,  *    _     i 


mi 


fii) 


ttp://www.arch.ive.org/details/cowboyhischaractOOrollrich 


*:    ^\ 

r .     1 

THE  COWBOY 


THE  COWBOY 

HIS  CHARACTERISTICS,  HIS  EQUIPMENT,  AND  HIS  PART 
IN  THE  DEVELOPMENT  OF  THE  WEST 


BY 
PHILIP  ASHTON  ROLLINS 


NEW  YORK 

CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 

1922 


Copyright,  1922.  by 
CHARLES  SCRIBNER'S  SONS 


Printed  in  the  United  States  of  America 


PubUsbed  April.  1922 


^0 

MY    MOTHER 

AND   TO 

MY   WIFE 


^^72038 


PREFACE 

The  American  cowboy,  by  reason  of  his  picturesqueness, 
has  been  a  frequent  subject  for  the  dramatist,  the  novehst, 
the  illustrator,  and  the  motion-picture  photographer. 

All  these  producers  have  been  limited  by  the  technical 
requirements  of  their  arts,  and  have  stressed  the  cowboy's 
picturesqueness  to  the  exclusion  of  his  other  qualities. 
They  have  done  this  so  definitely  and  attractively  as  to 
create  an  ostensible  type  which  rapidly  is  being  accepted 
by  the  American  public  as  an  accurate  portrait  of  the  now 
bygone  puncher. 

The  portrait  is  often  charmingly  presented,  but  it  is  not 
accurate.  The  cowboy  was  far  more  than  a  theatric  char- 
acter. He  was  an  alBSrmative,  constructive  factor  in  the 
social  and  poHtical  development  of  the  United  States. 

Consequently  he  deserves  to  be  assured  more  kindly 
treatment  by  ultimate  history  than  presumably  he  will  re- 
ceive unless,  while  the  testimony  of  eye-witnesses  be  still 
procurable,  such  testimony  be  gathered  and  recorded. 

Mr.  Emerson  Hough's  '^The  Story  of  the  Cowboy"  sup- 
plied evidence  of  this  nature,  and  was  so  delightfully  read- 
able that  it  alone  should  have  proved  sufiicient;  but  never- 
theless the  ^' movie  man''  still  continues  his  work  of  smirch- 
ing the  cowboy's  reputableness.  Wherefore  it  is  incumbent 
that  additional  eye-witnesses  should  follow  Mr.  Hough  onto 
the  witness-stand,  even  though  their  testimony  be  given  in 
a  form  far  less  interesting  than  was  that  which  he  employed. 

The  writer,  during  a  series  of  years  before  the  fateful  one 
of  1892,  was  upon  the  open  Range,  and  was  brought  into 

vii 


•viii  PREFACE 

intimate  relationship  with  many  of  its  people.  In  1892, 
that  year  of  Wyoming's  ''Rustler  War,"  he  was  in  Wyo- 
ming and  in  close  contact  with  participants  in  that  adven- 
tm-e.  Since  1892  he  has  been  more  or  less  frequently  in  the 
one-time  Cattle  Country. 

He  makes  no  pretension  of  having  discovered  the  West, 
any  part  of  it,  any  person  in  it,  or  anything  relating  to  it. 
But  in  this  book  he  has  earnestly  striven  to  record  truth- 
fully what  Western  ranchmen,  in  the  ordinary  course  of  their 
business,  said  within  his  hearing  and  did  before  his  eyes, 
and  thus  to  recount  accurately  the  every-day  life  of  the 
old-time  Range. 

He  has  restricted  himself  to  what  he  actually  saw  and 
heard,  except  in  the  cases  of  four  classes  of  matter. 

The  first  of  these  classes  is  comprised  of  the  description  of 
events  which  occurred  prior  to  the  decade  of  the  eighties. 
To  various  standard  histories,  notably  that  of  Bancroft,  to 
nmnerous  old-timers  talking  at  the  ranch-table  or  beside  the 
camp-fire,  and  to  the  several  printed  reports  by  Hve-stock 
commissions,  the  writer  is  indebted  for  the  material  which 
he  has  used. 

The  second  class  is  made  of  such  of  the  illustrative  anec- 
dotes as  relate  to  adventures  with  the  Indians.  These,  al- 
though hearsay,  came  from  unimpeachable  sources.  They 
were  severally  given  to  the  writer  by  the  direct  word  of 
mouth  of  Major  Frank  P.  Fremont,  Tazewell  Woody,  John 
Yancey,  and,  above  all,  of  that  great  scout,  James  Bridger. 
A  whole  new  world  was  opened  to  a  very  youthful  ''tender- 
foot" when  in  1874  Mr.  Bridger  told  him  of  Kit  Carson. 

The  third  class,  the  references  to  the  distances  ridden  by 
Leon  and  by  Aubrey,  is  taken  from  Haydn's  "Dictionary 
of  Dates,"  and  Captain  J.  L.  Humfreville's  "Twenty  Years 
among  Our  Hostile  Indians,"  this  last  augmented  by  Cap- 
tain Humfreville  in  conversation. 

The  fourth  class  consists  of  the  assertions  as  to  the  prob- 


PREFACE  ix 

ability  of  pursued  men's  "doubling  back"  upon  their 
courses.  These  assertions  are  the  result  of  frequent  con- 
versations held  years  since  upon  the  subject  with  various  of 
the  Indian  scouts. 

Because  the  book  represents  a  sincere  attempt  to  provide 
some  future  historian  with  reliable  statements  of  fact,  it 
contains  no  imaginative  material  beyond  that  specified  in 
subsequent  paragraphs  of  this  Preface. 

All  the  people  mentioned  in  the  book  did  and  said  just 
what  the  book  attributes  to  them;  and,  with  the  single  ex- 
ception of  "Mr.  New  Yorker"  in  Chapter  IV,  all  the  names 
ascribed  to  people  mentioned  in  the  book  were  the  actual 
names  of  such  people. 

The  names  which,  on  pages  240  and  306,  are  ascribed  to 
ranches  are  fictitious. 

The  writer  owes  a  very  real  debt  to  his  friend,  Howard 
Thayer  Kingsbury,  who,  loaning  his  keen  sense  of  historical 
perspectives  and  his  nice  appreciation  of  literary  forms,  made 
various  suggestions,  all  of  which  have  been  followed,  and 
who  also  pricked  some  virulent  literary  bhsters. 

The  writer  is  much  indebted  also  to  his  friend,  John  H. 
Bradford,  who,  experienced  on  the  cattle-range  and  versed 
in  the  accurate  use  of  EngHsh,  made  corrections  in  the 
manuscript. 

This  Preface  closes  with  a  duplication  of  the  appeal  where- 
with the  final  chapter  of  this  book  concludes. 

P.  A.  R. 

28  East  78th  Street,  New  York  City, 
January  10,  1922. 


CONTENTS 


CHAFTEH  PAGB 

I.    The  Beginnings  of  Ranching 1 

ORIGIN     OF     RANCHING,    OP     ITS     EQUIPMENT     AND     TECHNIC 

"wild  horses" — "wild  cattle" — "INDIAN  PONIES  " BE- 
GINNING  OF   RANCHING   BY   AMERICANS OVERLAND   TRAIL   AND 

ITS  USERS — DEVELOPMENT  OP  RANCHING — TEXAS  TRAIL — 
VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS RAISING  OP  CATTLE  AND  HORSES  COM- 
PARED  "free"  WATER  AND  GRASS OPEN  RANGE SELECTING 

LANDS — FENCES — USE  OP  OPEN  RANGE — RANCHING's  INCOM- 
PATIBILITY WITH  FARMING SOURCES  WHENCE  RANCHMEN  RE- 
CRUITED— CHARACTER  OP  RANCHMEN — ENGLISH  CONTINGENT — 
FINANCIAL  CAPITAL — EXTENT  OP  RANGE. 

11.    Ranchmen  and  Farmers .     27 

PROTECTIVE     MEASURES — NEW     MEXICAN     AND      CALIPORNIAN 

RANCHES ^VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS — BRONCO's  VARIOUS  NAMES 

IMPROVING  QUALITY  OP  LIVE  STOCK — DECADENCE  OP  HORSE- 
RAISING PRICES     OP     LIVE     STOCK — FARMERS'     ADVENT     ENDS 

RANCHING ranchman's  AND  FARMER'S  VALUE  TO  STATE  COM- 
PARED— DISPERSAL  OP  RANCHMEN  ON  ENDING  OP  OPEN  RANGE 
VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS  —  RANCH  WOMEN "  COWGIRLS  "  —  AN- 
TIPATHY TO  SHEEP — ITS  CAUSES  AND  ITS  CESSATION. 

III.  Definitions  and  Cowboy  Ways 39 

VARIOUS  TITLES  FOR  COWBOY — VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS — ^NO  TYPI- 
CAL COWBOY — USE  OF  PISTOL — ^DANGEROUS  ANIMALS — BEAR- 
DOGS — LOCO-WEED — SHOOTING  AT  TENDERPOOTS'  FEET — ITS  IN- 
CENTIVE  CARRIAGE    AND     SHOOTING    OF    PISTOL— ^EXTENT    OP 

latter' S  USE — PISTOL  NOT  ALWAYS  NECESSITY — BAD  MAN, 
PSEUDO  AND  ACTUAL — PISTOL  AS  NOISE-MAKER — RIFLE,  ITS 
TRANSPORT  AND  NAMES CREASING  AND  WALKING  DOWN  MUS- 
TANGS  VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS — INTIMACY  WITH  HORSES THEIR 

NAMES,  COLORATION  AND  SECTIONAL  DIFFERENCES — KILLING 
HORSES — SIGNALLING — KNIFE — LARIAT. 

IV.  Cowboy  Character 65 

NECESSARY  COURAGE — BODILY  INJURIES — UNC0MPLAININGNE88 
— CHEERFULNESS — RESERVE    TOWARD    STRANGERS — ITS    CAUSE 

CUSTOMS    WHEN    MEETING    PEOPLE,    AND    WHEN    ENTERING    A 

CAMP PERSONAL  NAMES — ETIQUETTE  OF  GUN  AND  HAT IN- 
TRODUCTIONS— CURBING  CURIOSITY — ATTITUDE  TOWARD  WOMEN 

xi 


xii  CONTENTS 


CHAPTER  PAGI 

— ILLNESS  AND  MEDICAL  TREATMENT — SENTENTIOU8NESS — DEF- 
INITIONS —  QUIZZICALITY — SLANG — PROFANITY — DEFINITIONS — 
RELIGIOUS  ATTITUDE — POWER  OF  OBSERVATION — CHARACTER- 
ISTIC POSE — USE  OF  TOBACCO — BOWED  LEGS — ^DEGREE  OF  HON- 
ESTY— ESTIMATE  OP  EASTERNERS — INTELLECTUAL  INTERESTS 
AND  SCOPE — SENSE  OF  DIGNITY — VANITY. 

^      V.    What  the  Cowboy  Wore 103 

WHAT  THE  COWBOY  WORE  AND  WHY  HE  WORE  IT — HAT,  ITS 
FORM,  DECORATION,  USES  AND  NAMES — HANDKERCHIEF,  ITS 
COLOR  AND  USE — SHIRT— COLLAR' S  ABSENCE — GARTERS — COAT 
AND  TROUSERS BELT — VEST — " MAKINGS" — "NATURAL  CURI- 
OSITIES" —  MATCHES  —  FANCY    VEST  —  OVERCOAT  —  GLOVES — 

CUFFS — BOOTS  —  SPURS  —  "CHAPS" — FURS — "WAR      PAINT" 

HAIR  CHAIN — OTHER  RANCHMEN's  RAIMENT. 

VI.    Saddles 120 

RIDING  SADDLE,  ITS  NAMES,  SHAPE,  COMPONENT  PARTS  AND 
VARIOUS    ATTACHMENTS — LATTER's    NAMES    AND    USES — MERITS 

OF  SINGLE  RIG  AND  DOUBLE  RIG  COMPARED FURTHER  SADDLE 

ATTACHMENTS,  THEIR  NAMES  AND  USES CAMPING  AND  CAMP- 
COOKING STILL    FURTHER    SADDLE    ATTACHMENTS — FONDNESS 

FOR  SADDLE — SADDLING ADVANTAGES  AND  DISADVANTAGES  OF 

STOCK-SADDLE — WESTERN  RIDING  RECORDS. 

VII.    Bridle,  Lariat,  and  Quirt 137 

THE  QUIRT  AND  ITS  USE — LARIAT,  ITS  NAMES,  FORM,  AND  USE — 

SECTIONAL  DIFFERENCES  IN  ROPING  ABILITY STAKE  ROPE  AND 

HAIR    ROPE  —  PUTTO  —  PICKETING  —  ARGUMENTATIVENESS     OP 

RANCHMEN — HOBBLING BRIDLE,     ITS    VARIOUS    FORMS — REINS 

— METHOD     OF     MOUNTING     HORSE — BUCKING DISMOUNTING 

ETIQUETTE  OF  DISMOUNT — BIT,  ITS  VARIOUS  FORMS  AND  THEIR 
NAMES — COW  HORSE — HACKAMORE — GHOST  CORD — TWITCH. 

VIII.    Equipment  and  Furnishings 153 

"plunder"    and    "dOFUNNIES" — PACK-SADDLE,     ITS    VARIOUS 

FORMS  AND  NAMES — ITS  LOAD — VARIOUS  HITCHES WAR  SACKS 

AND  POKES — ALFORJAS HORSE-TRADING  —  STEALING  OP   LIVE 

STOCK — ITS  PUNISHMENT — LONG  HAIR — VIGILANCE  COMMITTEE 
AND  ITS  PUNISHMENTS — SCENES  ON  THE  TRAIL — RANCH  BUILD- 
INGS  TANK GO  DEVIL — CORRALS — ABSENCE  OF  FIELDS — EGGS 

— PERSONNEL — VISITORS — PETS — READING — MUSIC — LIGHTING. 

IX.    Diversions  and  Recreations 174 

FURTHER  DIVERSIONS  —  TARANTULA  DUELS  —  RATTLESNAKES 
KILLED  BY  KING-SNAKES — ANTELOPE,   ETC. — REPTILES  IN  BED- 


CONTENTS  xiii 

:hapteb  page 

DING — LITTLE  DANGER  PROM  SNAKES — SECTIONAL  CUSTOMS — 
HARMLESSNESS  OF  WILD  ANIMALS — DUELS  BETWEEN  VARIOUS 
BEASTS — WOLVES  AND  BEARS — HORSE-RACES  —  INDIAN  EN- 
TRANTS— FOOT-RACES — OTHER  RECREATIONS — COURSING — HAZ- 
ING TENDERFOOTS — CARD-PLATING — DRINKING  AND  EXTENT  OF 
DRUNKEITNESS — DANCING — PAUCITY  OF  RECREATIONS. 

X.    The  Day's  Work    .........   190 

BEGINNING  DAT's  WORK — MORNING  SADDLING — OUTRIDING — 
BLABBING — ANIMALS'  AILMENTS — PORCUPINES — WAGONS  AND 
JERK  LINES — ^BULL  WHIP — VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS — SHOEING 
HORSES — CLOUDBURST — INDIAN  FIGHTING — ^MORE  DEFINITIONS 
— PRAIRIE  FIRES — THEIR  CAUSE — CYCLONES — WINTER  HARD- 
SHIPS—  FREEZE — WINTER  GRAZING  —  DROWNINGS  —  WAGES  — 
DRIFT  —  BOX  CANYONS  — STORMS — RIDING  IN  DIFFICULT  COUN- 
TRY— SELF-SUFFICIENCY   OF  BRONCOS — WOLFERS  AND  WOLVES. 

XI.    Live  Stock 214 

HABITS  OF  LIVE  STOCK  ON  RANGE — VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS — 
ROUND-UP — ITS  SCOPE,  METHODS,  AND  DATE — CLASSIFICATION 
OP  CATTLE — FURTHER  DEFINITIONS — PREPARATIONS  FOR  ROUND- 
UP— ITS  CONDUCT — "cutting  OUT" — "PBQ  PONY" — ROPING 

SNUBBING — ^VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS. 

XII.    Branding  and  the  Round-Up 231 

TAILING — BRANDING  FIRE — BULLDOGGING — BRANDS  AND  MARKS 
— BRANDING-IRONS  AND  BRANDS — BRANDING  CUSTOMS — ^MAV- 
ERICKS, DERIVATION  OF  TERM  —  BRAND  BLOTCHING  —  HOG-TIES 
— ESTRAYS — OPEN  ROUND-UP — INSPECTORS — ATTACKS  BY  CAT- 
TLE— STAMPEDING  THE  BEEP  ISSUE. 

XIII.  The  Cattle  Drive       .........  252 

CATTLE  DRIVE — SINGING  TO  CATTLE — STAMPEDE — BURIALS  OP 
DEAD  MEN — DEFINITIONS — WATERING  LIVE  STOCK — MORE  DEFI- 
NITIONS— RAIL  SHIPMENTS — SHOOTING  GAME  FROM  TRAINS — 
MORALITY  OF  WEST — FURTHER  DEFINITIONS — TEXAS  TRAIL  AND 
OREGON  DRIVE — SWIMMING  CATTLE — QUICKSAND — ^MILLING — 
CROSSING  A  RAILWAY — QUARANTINE — FINANCIAL  RESULTS. 

XIV.  Breaking  Horses 274 

COW-PONIES  —  DEFINITIONS  —  BREAKING  HORSES  —  BUCKING  — 
EQUINE     OUTLAWS — MAN     KILLERS — ^DANGER     FROM     CATTLE — 

SPOILED  HORSES MORE  ABOUT  BUCKING — ITS  DANGER — LYING 

DOWN — RUNAWAYS — METHODS  OF  RIDING  BUCK — "HUNTING 
1.EATHER"  —  REASON     FOR     BUCKING  —  iiUROPEAN     HORSES  — 


XIV 


CONTENTS 


PRESENT-DAY  EXHIBITIONS — HORSE  DRIVE — VISIT  TO  TOWN — 
MONEY  —  CONVENTIONS  ON  ENTERING  TOWN  —  SHOOTING-UP 
TOWN — BUYING  IT — DEPARTURE  FROM  TOWN. 

XV.    Rustling 300 

EARLY  STEALING — LINCOLN  COUNTY  WAR — NESTERS — BEGIN- 
NING    OF     RUSTLING DEFINITIONS — SENTIMENTS     PERMITTING 

RUSTLING  —  RANGE-DWELLERS THEIR      SEVERAL       ATTITUDES 

TOWARD  RUSTLING — RUSTLERS'  METHODS — WYOMING'S  RUSTLER 
WAR — ITS  SIGNIFICANCE. 

XVI.    Trailing 316 

RIDING  SIGN — TRAILING — COWBOYS'  PARTICIPATION — AXIOMS — 
FACULTIES  INVOLVED  —  OB-TECTIVES  —  OBSERVATION  —  VISUAL 
"  SIGNS  " — AUDIBLE  WARNINGS — SMELL — TOUCH — DEFINITIONS 
— DETERMINING  AGE — PSYCHOLOGICAL  FACTORS — EXPLORATION 
— FALLIBILITY. 


XVII.    Later  Phases  of  Western  Migration 


.  341 


ORDER  OP  WESTERN  MIGRATIONS — EFFECTS  PRODUCED  BY 
MINERS  AND  OTHERS — RANCHMEN  PRINCIPAL  CREATORS  OF 
SPIRIT  OF  WEST — THAT  SPIRIT — IMPRESS  LEFT  BY  RANCHMEN. 


THE   COWBOY 


CHAPTER  I 
THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RANCHING 

ORIGIN  OP  RANCHING,  OF  ITS  EQUIPMENT  AND  TBCHNIC — "WILD  HORSES " 
— "  WILD  CATTLE  " — "  INDIAN  PONIES  " — BEGINNING  OF  RANCHING  BY  AMER- 
ICANS— OVERLAND  TRAIL  AND  ITS  USERS — DEVELOPMENT  OF  RANCHING — 
TEXAS  TRAIL — ^VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS — RAISING  OF  CATTLE  AND  HORSES 
COMPARED — "free"  WATER  AND  GRASS — OPEN  RANGE — SELECTING  LANDS 
— FENCES — ^USE  OF  OPEN  RANGE — RANCHING's  INCOMPATIBILITY  WITH 
FARMING — SOURCES  WHENCE  RANCHMEN  RECRUITED — CHARACTER  OF 
RANCHMEN — ENGLISH  CONTINGENT — FINANCIAL  CAPITAL — EXTENT  OP 
RANGE 

To  the  Mexicans  the  American  cowboy  owed  his  voca- 
tion.   For  his  character  he  was  indebted  to  no  one. 

He  obtained  from  Mexican  sources  all  the  tools  of  his 
trade,  all  the  technic  of  his  craft,  the  very  words  by  which 
he  designated  his  utensils,  the  very  animals  with  which  he 
dealt;  but,  as  one  of  the  dominant  figures  in  the  develop- 
ment of  the  United  States,  he  was  self-made. 

His  saddle,  bridle,  bit,  lariat,  spurs,  and  speciahzed  ap- 
parel were  not  designed  by  him.  He  merely  copied  what 
for  generations  had  been  in  use  below  the  Rio  Grande. 
The  bronco  that  he  rode  and  the  steer  that  he  roped,  each 
reached  him  only  after  they,  in  self  or  by  the  proxy  of  their 
ancestors,  had  come  northward  across  that  river. 

Long  before  the  cowboy's  advent  and  in  A.  D.  1519  and 
the  years  immediately  succeeding  it,  the  Spanish  invaders 
of  Mexico  took  thither  from  Europe  small  lots  of  horses  and 
cattle.  These  horses  were  assuredly  the  first  the  American 
continents  had  seen  since  the  geological  Ice  Age,  when  the 
prehistoric  native  horse  became  extinct;  and  these  cattle 
very  probably  were  the  first  upon  which  those  continents 
had  ever  looked. 

1 


THE  COWBOY 


From  these  imported  beasts  descended  the  vast  herds 
which  eventually  overspread  the  grazing  lands  of  Mexico, 
and  with  countless  hoofs  pounded  the  plains  of  Americans 
West. 

This  wholesale  multiphcation  from  the  initial  fifteen 
military  chargers  and  the  original  little  group  of  long- 
horned  Andalusian  cattle  was  a  matter  not  of  a  day,  but 
of  years  that  well-nigh  spanned  three  centuries. 

Nor  was  this  overflowing  into  the  present  United  States 
a  causeless  thing.  It  was  planned  and  supervised  by  dark- 
skinned,  wide-hatted  men  to  whom  Cotapaxi,  Montezuma, 
and,  withal,  ^^maiiana"  were  familiar  words. 

To  understand  this  movement  and  its  incentive  one  must 
turn  back  for  a  moment  to  that  year  1519  and  its  Spanish 
invaders.  The  latter  promptly  resolved  themselves  into 
Mexican  settlers;  and,  as  with  successive  generations  they 
numerically  increased,  they,  generation  by  generation,  spread 
and  in  part  crept  northward.  Each  migrating  settler 
took  his  live  stock  with  him  as  he  moved.  At  the  end  of 
three  hundred  years  the  Rio  Grande  had  long  since  been 
crossed,  and  there  were  firmly  established  in  the  south- 
eastern part  of  present  Texas  numerous  ranches,  each  cov- 
ering an  enormous  acreage  and  asserting  ownership  over  the 
great  herds  that  habitually  grazed  upon  it. 

The  owners  of  these  ranches  obtained  from  them  no  com- 
mercial profit,  for  the  reason  that  there  was  no  available 
selling  market  for  their  animals.  These  owners  could  make 
of  their  live  stock  no  disposition  beyond  satisfying  the  scant 
requirements  of  the  hacienda's  dinner-table,  of  the  local 
cobbler,  and  the  neighboring  saddle-maker,  and  also  be- 
yond insuring  that  every  person  on  the  premises  ever  would 
be  provided  with  a  riding  horse.  These  requisitions  with- 
drew so  Httle  from  the  herds  that  each  year  they  markedly 
increased  in  size. 

Throughout  the  stretches  between  the  landholdings  of 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RANCHING  3 

the  various  ranches  and  throughout  the  peopleless  country 
to  their  north  were  other  horses  and  cattle,  either  them- 
selves strays  from  then  contemporary  herds,  or  else  de- 
scendants of  strays  from  prior  herds.  These  outlying 
animals  gleefully  led  a  life  of  saucy  independence,  were 
very  numerous,  and  were  claimed  by  no  man.  They  were 
the  so-called  wild  horses  and  wild  cattle,  having  been  thus 
misnamed  by  early  explorers,  who  had  failed  to  recognize 
them  as  issue  of  domesticated  animals. 

These  wild  cattle  rarely  wandered  far  above  the  northerly 
boundary  of  what  is  now  the  State  of  Texas;  but  the  wild 
horses  used  all  the  plains  as  a  playground,  and  were  fa- 
miliar with  even  the  present  Canadian  border. 

From  such  of  these  wild  horses  as  were  ensnared  by  the 
Red  Man  sprang  the  '^  Indian  ponies,"  a  classification  that 
was  fictitious  in  that  it  assumed  the  existence  of  a  special 
breed. 

The  owners  of  these  early  ranches  in  present  Texas  were 
accustomed  to  burn  or  to  cut  upon  their  animals  marks  of 
proprietorship,  but  the  indolence  of  the  various  owners  let 
many  of  their  animals  escape  this  imposition.  Thus  inter- 
mingling with  the  inscribed  animals  were  others  which, 
being  unmarked,  did  not  patently  disclose  whether  they 
were  the  property  of  a  rancher  or  were  mere  visitors  from 
the  'Vild"  bands. 

The  methods  and  implements  employed  at  these  early 
estabUshments  were  so  fully  developed  that,  when  years 
afterward  America's  West  came  into  existence,  it  at  first 
adopted  these  methods  and  implements  in  their  entirety, 
and  subsequently  modified  them  only  in  so  far  as  to  brand 
more  industriously,  break  and  ride  less  cruelly,  shepherd 
more  carefully,  guide  both  breeding  and  grazing,  and  es- 
tabUsh  sufficient  selling  markets.  Incidentally,  these  later 
betterments  in  methods  of  breeding  and  breaking  were  due 
largely  to  EngHshmen  who,  trained  in  stock-raising,  had  bid 


4  THE  COWBOY 

farewell  to  their  home  country  and  had  cast  their  lot  in 
with  that  of  the  plains. 

But  America's  West  had  not  as  yet  been  born,  and  the 
Mexicans  were  the  only  ranchmen  in  present  southeastern 
Texas  until  the  year  1821. 

In  that  year  there  began  to  trickle  into  that  Texan  sec- 
tion from  the  more  easterly  part  of  the  continent  a  scant 
rivulet  of  pioneers  who  were  of  Scottish  and  EngHsh  descent 
and  of  colonial  American  stock,  who  were  quitting  their 
homes  in  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Tennessee  and  elsewhere  in 
the  lower  valley  of  the  Mississippi  River,  and  who  were 
more  or  less  aimlessly  wandering  westward.  These  pio- 
neers, coming  upon  the  Mexican  establishments  and  well 
pleased  with  what  they  saw,  settled  amid  the  ranchers  they 
had  unearthed;  learned  to  break  and  ride  bucking  horses; 
and,  as  the  most  important  element  of  all,  provided  them- 
selves with  an  ample  supply  of  branding-irons.  These 
irons  so  industriously  were  wielded  amid  the  '^wiW  herds 
as  well  of  horses  as  of  cattle,  and,  if  Mexican  accusations 
be  correct,  so  frequently  were  rested  upon  the  sides  of  the 
accusers'  unbranded  animals  that  presently  these  once  im- 
poverished American  pioneers  found  themselves  in  the  class 
of  *' cattle  kings."  Then  they  in  a  desultory  way  sought 
for  a  selling  market.  They  found  none  within  reach,  and, 
dropping  thereupon  into  the  easy-going  life  pursued  by 
their  Mexican  neighbors,  followed  it  until,  long  years  after- 
ward, a  commercial  outlet  was  secured. 

They  could  not  sell  their  animals,  for  the  very  simple 
reason  that  there  were  not  within  reach  people  to  buy  them. 

To  the  south  lay  the  waters  of  the  Gulf.  Westward  were, 
at  the  map's  bottom,  Mexico  with  its  sparse  population 
and  its  excess  supply  of  Uve  stock;  and,  at  the  map's  top, 
only  more  animals,  mile  after  mile  of  uninhabited  prairie, 
and  then  the  scant  Spanish  settlements  in  far-away  present 
New  Mexico  and  California.    Northward  lay  the  great 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RANCHING  5 

plains,  peopleless  save  for  the  Indians.  Only  to  the  east- 
ward might  one  reasonably  look  for  opportunity  to  sell. 
But  there  was  a  wide  interval  between  Texas  and  the  set- 
tled portions  of  the  East. 

No  railways  as  yet  crossed  that  intervening  space. 

Nor  could  animals  in  quantity  march  across  it.  Although 
it  was  true  that  cattle  and  horses  could  be  driven  great  dis- 
tances, they  could  thus  be  driven  only  over  territory  wherein 
both  nature  and  the  local  peoples  consented  to  let  them 
pass.  Between  Texas  and  the  Mississippi  River  there  was 
such  unfavorable  topography  and  such  comparative  scar- 
city of  proper  herbage  as  to  forbid  the  transit  of  large  herds. 
Nor  could  the  beasts  as  yet  elude  this  bunker  by  trudging 
northward  to  the  latitude  of  benevolent  east-bound  trails, 
since  hostile  Indians,  like  myriad  wasps,  flitted  to  and  fro 
across  the  route.  Thus  nature  and  man  conspired  to  keep 
the  Texan  beasts  impounded,  to  prevent  Texan  ranching 
from  expanding  into  a  national  industry,  and  the  Texan 
cowboy  from  becoming  a  national  character.  This  im- 
pounding ceased  when  the  Indians  were  suppressed,  and 
their  suppression  was  directly  due  to  events  which  presently 
transpired  in  a  more  northerly  section  of  the  United  States. 

Wherefore  these  pages  must  for  a  while  turn  aside  from 
Texas,  leave  it  to  rest  for  some  years  powerless  for  its  cat- 
tle, and  must  devote  attention  to  the  Northern  country  and 
certain  happenings  there. 

By  1848  the  American  farmers  who  were  working  west- 
ward through  the  Ohio  Valley,  Illinois,  and  Iowa  had  forced 
the  northern  sector  of  the  westward  frontier  but  little  far- 
ther than  the  Mississippi  River.  Just  beyond  were  trap- 
pers, hunters,  traders,  Indians,  and  also  wild  horses  that 
had  wandered  up  from  Texas.  These  horses  had  remained 
largely  masterless,  as  the  demands  of  the  equestrian  Indians 
and  of  the  few  transborder  white  men  had  drawn  com- 
paratively little  upon  the  supply. 


6  THE  COWBOY 

In  the  fall  of  1848  there  came  from  the  Pacific  coast  to 
the  eastern  United  States  word  of  the  gold  discovery  at 
Sutter's  Mill,  and  forthwith  there  plunged  across  the  fron- 
tier a  set  of  adventurous  men.  Some  of  them  held  their 
course  toward  California  and  its  mines,  either  to  reach 
their  goal  or  to  die  upon  the  way.  Others  of  them,  allured 
by  the  agricultural  richness  of  the  soil,  cut  short  their  jour- 
ney and  settled  on  the  route. 

When  the  natural  horsemen  among  these  settlers  first 
came  face  to  face  with  the  wild  horse  the  Northern  cowboy 
was  in  the  making.  When  these  natural  horsemen  discov- 
ered that  commercially  it  was  more  profitable  to  capture 
and  break  the  wild  horse  than  to  accumulate  animals  through 
the  conventional  breeding  of  more  familiar  stock,  and  that 
the  market  behind  the  horsemen  would  absorb  their  mod- 
est output,  the  initial  Northern  ranches  began,  and  coinci- 
dentally  the  Northern  cowboy  was  born. 

These  ranches  were  in  their  methods  in  no  way  different 
from  those  of  southeastern  Texas,  for  men  trained  in  this 
latter  section  had  drifted  northward  and  given  technical 
instruction. 

But  as  regards  comparative  sizes  of  ownerships  these 
Northern  ranches,  at  the  outset,  had  to  content  themselves 
with  more  modest  holdings,  inasmuch  as  the  plains  of 
their  locality  held  fewer  wild  horses,  and  far  fewer  wild 
cattle  than  had  obtained  in  Texas.  This  deficiency  was 
soon  in  part  corrected  through  domesticated  cattle,  which 
were  procured  from  the  pioneer  farms  to  the  eastward,  and 
were  turned  loose  upon  the  range. 

Slowly  the  Northern  ranchmen  pushed  westward;  slowly 
because,  on  the  one  hand,  they  had  to  shove  the  hostile 
Indians  ahead  of  them,  and,  on  the  other  hand,  they  could 
not  advance  too  far  beyond  the  market  at  the  rear.  By 
1860  no  more  progress  had  been  made  than  that,  in  Ne- 
braska, scattered  ranches  had  crept  out  along  the  Overland 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RANCHING  7 

Trail  for  one  hundred  and  fifty  miles  west  of  the  Missouri 
River,  while  in  Kansas  one  hundred  miles  had  been  the 
limit  of  the  movement. 

Penned  up  in  these  establishments  were  the  men  who 
later,  and  because  of  the  coming  of  the  railroads,  were  en- 
abled to  fling  across  the  continent,  and,  joining  forces  with 
the  Texans,  to  fill  the  great  plains  with  grazing  cattle. 

It  was  true  that,  still  westward  of  the  fettered  establish- 
ments just  mentioned,  and  far  out  upon  the  Overland  Trail, 
were  here  and  there  a  few  brave  settlers  who,  defying  the 
Indians,  conducted  ranches  whereon  to  grow  supplies  for 
sale  to  the  occupants  of  the  passing  wagons.  But  these 
ranches  were  too  scant  in  number  and  with  too  local  a  mar- 
ket to  be  considered  as  having  been  an  integral  part  of  the 
so-called  ranching  industry,  the  task  of  which  was  to  sup- 
ply the  Eastern  States  and  England.  They  really  were  re- 
fitting stations  on  the  trail,  rather  than  ranches  in  the  sense 
that  the  ''off  the  trail''  West  used  the  latter  term.  Never- 
theless all  honor  to  the  pioneer  settlers  beyond  Fort  Kearney, 
to  Pat  Mullaly,  Miller  and  Pennison,  Dan  Smith,  Jack 
Morrow,  and  their  Indian-harried  live  stock. 

These  men  knew  what  was  meant  by  the  little  sign  occa- 
sionally displayed  by  the  postmaster  at  Julesburg,  Denver, 
Cheyenne,  Virginia  City,  or  wherever:  ''No  Eastern  mail 
to-day.''  They  knew  that  somewhere  on  the  plains  were 
a  smouldering  yellow  stage-coach,  six  dead  mules,  and  some 
arrow-bedecked  human  bodies,  and  that  presently  upon 
the  scene  would  be  erected  a  candle-box  lid  inscribed  with 
a  date,  a  Hst  of  names,  and  the  statement,  "Killed  by 
Indians." 

However,  these  outlying  pioneer  settlers,  because  directly 
upon  the  trail,  saw  far  more  passers-by  than  did  many  of 
the  later  coming  ranchmen  who  made  their  ultimate  homes 
farther  afield.  There  moved  along  the  trail  not  only  the 
Overland  Stages,  and  for  a  time  the  Pony  Express,  but  also 


8  THE  COWBOY 

a  host  of  wagons.  In  the  first  half  of  the  decade  of  the 
sixties,  from  four  thousand  to  ten  thousand  wagons  were, 
save  in  mid-winter,  always  upon  the  trail. 

These  outlying  pioneer  settlers  were  ever  within  a  short 
distance  from  a  '^station"  of  the  Overland  Stage,  and  at 
each  such  station  news  of  doings  in  ^'the  States''  could  be 
obtained  from  the  occupants  of  the  daily  west-bound  stage- 
coach during  its  halt,  and  at  any  time  from  either  the  sta- 
tion's employees  or  the  voyagers  in  the  ''pilgrims'  room,"  a 
shelter-room  available  to  all  passers-by  on  condition  that 
they  sweep  it  out  after  using  it. 

These  stations,  from  ten  to  fifteen  miles  apart  along  al- 
most the  entire  trail,  furnished  six  fresh  horses  or  mules  to 
every  stage-coach  as  it  rattled  in.  The  stages,  "Concord 
coaches,"  carrying  mails,  baggage,  express-chest,  a  ''driver," 
a  "conductor"  or  "guard,"  and  as  passengers  nine  "insides" 
and  six  "on  tops"  or  "outsides,"  jolted  from  Atchison, 
Kansas,  to  Placerville,  California,  approximately  nineteen 
hundred  miles,  in  from  seventeen  to  nineteen  days. 

The  Pony  Express  in  its  short  life  raced  from  "St.  Joe," 
Missouri,  to  Sacramento,  Cahfornia,  upon  a  schedule  of 
eight  days,  making  the  transit  on  one  occasion  in  seven 
days,  seventeen  hours. 

The  Overland  Trail,  having  formally  started  originally 
from  Independence  or  Westport  (fifty  miles  below  Atchison), 
later  from  "St.  Joe"  (eighteen  miles  above  Atchison),  and 
finally  and  after  1861  from  Atchison  itself,  ran  northwesterly 
to  Fort  Kearney  on  the  Platte  River,  meanwhile  merging 
with  the  connecting,  northerly  trail  from  Omaha.  From 
Fort  Kearney  the  route  followed  the  Platte's  southerly  bank 
to  Julesburg,  Colorado.  There,  sending  off  a  side  spur  to 
Denver,  it  crossed  the  Platte,  followed  its  north  fork  to 
Fort  Laramie,  and  proceeded  thence  along  the  Sweetwater 
and  through  the  Great  South  Pass.  Then  it  forked,  one 
branch  leading  to  Cahfornia  by  way  of  Fort  Bridger,  Great 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RANCHING  9 

Salt  Lake,  and  the  Humboldt  Basin,  the  other  branch  lead- 
ing to  Oregon  by  way  of  Fort  Hall  and  the  Snake  and  Co- 
lumbia Rivers. 

It  was  along  this  trail  that  the  Northern  ranchmen  first 
pushed  out  into  the  Cattle  Country;  but  by  the  year  1860 
they,  as  already  stated,  had  progressed  but  little. 

By  that  same  year  Texas,  still  in  shackles,  had  thrust  a 
few  driven  herds  through  the  Indians  at  the  Staters  northern 
border,  and  so  to  market  in  the  East;  but  it  had  been  able 
to  do  no  more  than  to  dispose  of  mere  nibbhngs  at  its  live 
stock- 
Now  began  the  era  of  western  railway  construction,  and, 
despite  the  damper  of  the  Civil  War,  tracks  commenced  to 
push  into  Kansas  and  lengthjvise  of  Nebraska.  They 
reached  Wyoming  in  1867,  and  two  years  later  had  spanned 
the  continent. 

Through  these  railways  the  Indians  presently  ceased  to 
be  an  omnipresent  menace.  The  federal  government  de- 
sired peace  and  quiet  for  the  colonists  whom,  it  was  antici- 
pated, the  railways  would  scatter  over  the  plains,  and  so 
had  its  army  sweep  the  Red  Men  into  reservations.  The 
major  portion  of  the  grazing  country  was  soon  made  reason- 
ably safe,  though  in  various  localities  the  Indians  delayed 
decent  behavior  until  the  close  of  1876.  Even  after  that 
time  they  occasionally  broke  bounds  and  went  upon  the 
war-path,  but  these  later  forays  were  usually  short-lived, 
and  with  hmited  field. 

Through  these  railways  the  ranchmen  were  given  not 
only  immediate  use  of  all  the  grazing  lands  of  the  West, 
but  also  instant  contact  with  a  consimaing  market  of  suiE- 
cient  size.  Experience  had  shown  that  to  earn  the  maxi- 
mum profit  cattle  could  not  march  far  in  moving  from  pas- 
ture to  the  consumer.  Although  they  could  successfully 
be  driven  unconscionable  distances  to  obtain  succulent 
grasses,  they,  after  achieving  this  food  and  having  thus  be- 


10  THE  COWBOY 

come  portly,  were  economically  poor  subjects  for  a  long 
trail.  Their  excess  profits  lay  in  their  fat,  and  to  turn  this 
into  unnecessary  sweat  was  bad  business.  Hence  the  old 
slogan:  ^'To  the  grass  on  the  hoof.  To  the  butcher  in  the 
train."  This  slogan,  however,  often  was  violated  after 
market  contact  had  been  established,  and  while  the  rail- 
ways were  as  yet  unable  to  furnish  sufficient  tracks  and 
trains. 

So  soon  as  the  plains  were  opened  there  poured  into  their 
vast  stretches  men  and  animals  from  Nebraska  and  Kansas 
on  the  east,  from  Texas  on  the  south.  The  inpouring  of 
animals  across  the  eastern  border  was  short-hved,  for  the 
supply  of  surplus  breeding  beasts  in  that  locality  was  Hm- 
ited.  But  Texas  had  no  such  handicap.  Moreover,  she 
from  experience  had  discovered  that  the  North  was  more 
generously  watered  than  was  the  South,  that  the  grasses  of 
the  continent's  central  and  northern  reaches  were  more 
fattening  than  was  the  forage  of  her  own  Texan  prairies, 
and  that  her  Texan  climate,  while  omitting  frigid  weather 
dangerous  to  expectant  mothers  and  their  later  offspring, 
and  so  tending  toward  a  maximum  number  of  births  and  a 
minimum  number  of  infant  deaths,  militated  against  marked 
gain  in  weight  by  a  maturing  animal. 

Furthermore,  she  from  the  teachings  of  the  Northern 
ranchmen  had  learned  that  cattle  could  be  sold  by  the 
pound,  and  that  this  method  of  selling  was  far  more  lucra- 
tive than  had  been  the  former  Texan  custom  of  selling  by 
the  head. 

Wherefore  she  began,  and  for  more  than  two  decades 
continued,  a  northward  procession  which,  though  composed 
primarily  of  lowing  cattle,  attained  majesty  through  its 
physical  bigness  and  its  social  and  poUtical  effect.  From 
the  time  that  this  procession  became  well  established,  that 
is  from  and  after  1866,  a  horde  of  cattle  and  their  attendant 
horsemen  annually  marched  up  the  route  that,  somewhat 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RANCHING  11 

changing  its  course  with  successive  years,  was,  in  the  southern 
latitudes,  known  at  first  as  the  Chishohn  Trail,  then  as  the 
Fort  Griffin  and  Dodge  City  Trail,  later  as  the  Northern 
Trail,  and,  in  the  Northwest,  was  called  the  Texas  Trail. 

This  procession,  referred  to  in  the  Southwest  as  the 
Northern  Drive,  and  in  the  Northwest  as  the  Texas  Drive, 
did  not  move  in  a  single,  compact  mass,  but  was  made  up 
of  numerous,  independent,  and  widely  intervalled  herds, 
each  composed  of  anywhere  between  a  few  hundred  and 
ten  thousand  cattle.  The  parading  cattle  in  1866  numbered 
three  hundred  thousand;  in  each  year  thereafter,  through 
1871,  progressively  so  increased  that  in  the  latter  year  over 
six  hundred  thousand  made  the  trek.  For  some  further 
years  they  held  to  very  high  mmibers,  but  presently  began 
to  lessen.  However,  not  until  1885  did  they  in  any  twelve- 
month recede  below  the  mark  of  three  hundred  thousand. 
Then  the  procession  commenced  to  dwindle  rapidly. 

These  marching  animals,  in  part,  trudged  through  weary, 
dust-clouded  miles  to  the  ranges  of  Nebraska,  Kansas, 
Dakota,  Colorado,  Wyoming,  Montana,  Oregon,  of  even 
British  Columbia,  each  lot  of  cattle  there  to  tarry  for 
months,  or  for  a  year  or  more,  and  eat  to  fatness.  Each 
lot  of  cattle  thus  feeding  might  have  been  sold  by  its  Texan 
owner  to  a  Northern  ranchman;  or  the  Texan,  still  retaining 
ownership  of  the  beasts,  might  graze  them  either  upon 
lands  which,  as  yet  unpre-empted,  were  open  to  all  comers, 
or  else  upon  lands  the  right  to  use  which  he  had  hired  from 
such  Northerner  as  controlled  them.  When  thus  "fed  up,'' 
these  beasts,  with  well-covered  ribs  and  as  beeves  of  quality, 
moved  on  by  rail  to  the  abattoirs  of  Chicago,  Omaha,  and 
Kansas  City,  the  junction  points  for  the  Eastern  stomachs. 

The  paraders  on  the  Texas  Trail,  in  other  part,  once  clear 
from  Texas,  headed  for  the  nearest  railway  station,  and 
there  entrained,  to  fill  forthwith  at  those  same  abattoirs  a 
call  for  less  excellent  meat. 


12  THE  COWBOY 

The  nearest  railway  station  was,  in  early  days,  the  rail- 
head, which,  advancing  with  forward  thrusts  like  those  of 
a  measuring  worm,  intermittently  pushed  itself  farther  and 
farther  westward.  The  rail-head,  until  it  had  passed  beyond 
the  median  line  of  the  Texan  Panhandle,  was  the  magnet 
for  all  driven,  railway-destined  herds;  and  so,  pending  that 
transit,  maintained  unquestionable  supremacy  in  notoriety. 
At  each  halting  spot  a  town  sprang  up,  had  for  a  while  in 
Eastern  reputation  virile  competition  with  certain  mining- 
camps  for  the  palm  of  infamy,  and  then  lapsed  into  the 
position  of  a  mere  way  station  upon  the  railway. 

The  Texas  Trail  was  no  narrow,  trodden  street.  It 
rather  was,  for  the  major  portion  of  its  length,  a  wide  zone 
along  which  the  herders  picked  their  way  and  guided  their 
charges,  according  as  conditions  of  grass  and  water  de- 
manded. This  zone,  however,  at  various  places  contracted 
almost  to  a  mere  road,  for  certain  rivers  and  arid  spaces 
had  crossing  spots  that  were  particularly  favorable.  This 
trail  at  its  southern  end  was  composed  of  countless  little 
paths,  one  leading  from  each  ranch  in  Texas.  These  paths 
gradually  drew  together,  welded  finally  into  one  broad 
route  that,  avoiding  the  forbidden  area  of  Indian  Territory, 
passed  northward  through  the  Texan  Panhandle,  or  just 
outside  its  eastern  border,  and  then  frayed  into  innumerable 
divergent  byways  which  kept  on,  here  to  the  fattening 
ranges  wherever  situated,  here  to  Omaha,  there  to  Calgary, 
there  to  San  Francisco,  and,  amongst  themselves,  to  every 
spot  upon  the  Northwest's  map. 

Up  this  trail  passed  the  Texan  stockmen  with  their  in- 
bred sectionalism  based,  in  part  on  proud  recollection  of 
the  Texan  Republic,  in  part  on  inheritance  from  a  restricted 
area  of  the  Old  South,  namely  Mississippi,  Alabama,  Ten- 
nessee, and  their  environs.  At  the  trail's  upper  end  these 
stockmen  encountered  and  fraternized  with  the  Northern 
ranchmen,  who  were  gathering  from  the  four  corners  of  the 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RANCHING  13 

continent,  and  from  even  beyond  its  shores.  The  fraterni- 
zation caused  each  element  so  freely  to  give,  and  so  fuUy  to 
take,  that  there  was  crystalHzed  a  new  form  of  public 
opinion,  the  so-called  spirit  of  the  West,  and  there  came  into 
existence  two  new  beings,  the  Western  rancher  and  the 
American  cowboy.  These  latter  persons  not  only  definitely 
shaped  pubhc  opinion  throughout  America's  West,  but  also 
dominated  for  a  quarter  of  a  century  in  its  government,  and 
finally  left  upon  it  a  social  and  poHtical  impress  which,  po- 
tent until  the  present  day,  may  prove  itself  to  be  permanent. 

Associated  with  these  men,  obedient  to  their  leadership, 
taking  color  from  them,  and  so  also  a  factor  in  formulating 
the  social  and  political  system  of  the  Range  were  such  of 
the  cowboy's  fellow  employees  as,  not  being  cowboys,  were 
therefore  of  a  station  more  humble  than  was  his.  These 
men  of  humbler  station  were  the  cook,  the  horse  wrangler, 
the  teamster,  and  the  long-suffering  individual  who,  as  use- 
ful man  or  general  worker,  did  countless  odds  and  ends  of 
tasks. 

The  men  comprised  in  these  new  classes,  the  Western 
rancher  and  the  American  cowboy,  and  the  men  who,  of 
humbler  station,  were  associated  with  them  may  have  re- 
tained their  several  preferences  for  Texas,  Arizona,  Mon- 
tana, or  wherever,  may  have  retained  their  acquiescence 
to  the  ideas  of  their  several  home  localities,  but  they  had 
in  common  the  spirit  of  the  West,  and  they  all  understood 
the  language  of  the  West. 

The  Texas  Trail  was  no  mere  cow-path.  It  was  the  course 
of  empire. 

So  important  a  part  did  this  trail  play  in  the  development 
of  the  Northwest,  so  relatively  numerous  were  the  Texans 
among  this  section's  ranchmen,  and  so  conspicuous  were 
the  Texans  among  this  section's  cowboys  that  some  writers 
have  been  led  not  only  to  credit  to  Southern  birth  the  major 
portion  of  the  Northwest's  white  inhabitants,  but  also  to 


14  THE  COWBOY 

assume  the  latter^s  immigration  to  have  been  effected  on 
this  trail,  and  thus  to  have  proceeded  in  violation  of  the 
natural  law  which  requires  emigrants  to  travel  for  the  most 
part  upon  parallels  of  latitude.  In  these  averments  these 
writers  clearly  have  been  in  error.  The  Texas  Trail  was, 
as  regards  numbers  of  human  travellers,  far  surpassed  by 
the  Overland  Trail,  and  also  by  the  Union  Pacific  and  other 
transcontinental  railways.  Although  Texans  and  other 
Southerners  formed  a  very  important  element  among  the 
Northwest's  ranchmen,  there  appears  to  be  no  reason  to 
question  the  opinions  orally  expressed  upon  the  point  in 
the  latter  part  of  the  decade  of  the  eighties  by  several  think- 
ing Northwesterners  who  lived  in  widely  separated  locali- 
ties, journeyed  extensively,  and  had  somewhat  investigated 
the  subject.  These  men  unanimously  agreed  that  the 
large  majority  of  the  Northwesterners  were  of  northerly 
extraction,  including  northern  Europe  in  this  latter  category. 

While  the  hardy  frontier  ranchmen  of  the  decade  of  the 
sixties  and  before  deserve  the  homage  due  to  pioneers,  their 
aggregate  businesses  constituted  an  enterprise  which  had 
large  commercial  importance  only  in  so  far  as  it  was  path- 
finding  and  subsequently  instructive  as  to  methods.  Ac- 
cordingly, when  speaking  hereinafter  of  ranching  and  of 
ranchmen,  reference  will  be  made  only  to  such  as  obtained 
or  were  operating  in  or  after  the  early  seventies,  when  the 
Western  Range  first  might  use  wholesale  financial  terms.  • 

Furthermore  and  in  conformity  with  Range  custom,  the 
text  will  restrict  the  term  '^ rancher"  to  members  of  the 
proprietory  class,  will,  in  ^^ ranchmen,"  include  employees  as 
well  as  employers,  and  will  endeavor  to  make  as  little  avail 
as  practicable  of  the  word  '^rancher,"  for  it  was  not  of  col- 
loquial usage  throughout  the  Range. 

Although  the  term  ^^ ranchmen"  thus  included  both  em- 
ployee and  employer,  it  usually  was  differentiated  to  the 
extent  that,  while  all  men  engaged  in  ranching  were,  as 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RANCHING  15 

compared  with  the  men  of  aaiy  other  vocation,  called  "ranch- 
men," the  latter  as  among  themselves  often  limited  the 
term  to  the  class  of  ranch  owners,  designating  the  employees, 
according  to  their  special  functions,  as  cowboys,  wranglers, 
etc. 

"Rancheros,"  the  Mexican  border^s  synonym  for  ranch- 
men, was  subject  to  like  differentiation. 

The  word  "ranch"  itself  had  several  and  quite  diverse 
meanings.  Whether  it  appeared  as  "ranch"  or  in  its  earlier 
American  form  of  "ranche,"  or  in  its  Mexican  border  guise 
of  "rancho,"  it  denoted  interchangeably  either  an  entire 
ranching  establishment  inclusive  of  its  buildings,  lands,  and 
live  stock,  or  else  the  principal  building,  which  usually  was 
the  owner^s  dweUing-house,  or  else  that  building  together 
with  the  other  structures  adjacent  to  it,  or  else  the  collec- 
tive persons  who  operated  the  establishment.  The  prin- 
cipal building,  however,  was  more  commonly  specifically 
designated  as  the  "ranch  house,"  or,  on  the  Mexican  border, 
as  the  "rancheria." 

Because  man's  necessity  for  food  outweighed  his  need  for 
travel,  cattle-raising,  from  the  beginning  of  American  ranch- 
ing, overshadowed  in  extent  the  raising  of  horses.  Where- 
fore the  majority  of  cowboys  were  associated  primarily  with 
the  cattle  industry  and  not  with  that  of  the  horse.  While 
it  was  true  that  some  ranches  raised  in  quantity  both  cattle 
and  horses,  almost  all  of  the  ranches  specialized  upon  either 
one  or  the  other  of  these  animals.  Notwithstanding  this, 
all  speciaUsts  in  cattle  maintained  perforce  horses  in  num- 
ber generously  sufficient  for  the  transport  of  men  and  sup- 
phes. 

So  predominant  were  the  cattle  that  the  entire  grazing 
area  of  the  West  customarily  was  called  the  Cattle  Range 
or  Cattle  Country.  A  horse  rancher  would  naively  say: 
"I  live  in  the  Cattle  Country.  IVe  got  a  horse  range  there." 
He  did  not  say  this  in  any  deprecating  way,  for,  unlike  the 


16  THE  COWBOY 

sheepman,  he  was  never  expected  to  apologize  for  his  call- 
ing. On  the  contrary,  he  was  a  bit  disposed  to  consider 
that  his  vocation  gave  him  a  standing  a  little  better  even 
than  that  which  the  cattleman  enjoyed. 

Horse  ranches  were  relatively  more  frequent  in  Texas 
and  Oregon  than  elsewhere,  this  because  of  the  fact  that  the 
ranchmen  of  early  days  had  found  Texas,  and  to  a  less  ex- 
tent Oregon  to  be  the  sections  most  affected  by  the  wild 
horse.  Such  of  these  men  as  devoted  themselves  to  horse- 
raising  settled  where  the  wild  horse  could  be  found  in  quan- 
tity, and  so  gave  to  the  locality  a  ranching  trend  which  was 
apt  to  be  followed  by  subsequently  arriving  ranchers,  and 
this  though  their  coming  was  delayed  until  after  the  wild 
horse  had  passed  into  captivity. 

He  had  virtually  disappeared  by  the  close  of  the  decade 
of  the  seventies,  though,  for  years  after  that,  small  bands 
of  unclaimed  animals  frisked  about  in  the  Texan  Panhandle. 

When  the  United  States  first  acquired  the  West  from 
France,  Mexico  and  the  RepubUc  of  Texas,  all  the  grazing 
coimtry  except  the  relatively  small  acreage  which  was  pri- 
vately owned  under  titles  of  Mexican  origin,  belonged  to  the 
government,  the  lands  in  Texas,  by  the  terms  under  which 
it  entered  the  Union,  belonging  to  the  government  of  Texas, 
the  lands  outside  the  Texan  borders  belonging  to  the  gov- 
ernment of  the  United  States. 

Subsequently  pieces  were  carved  out  in  Texas  for  State 
allotments  on  account  of  local  soldiers'  bounties,  in  Texas 
and  elsewhere  for  grants  by  State  and  federal  governments 
to  railways.  The  United  States  set  apart  still  further  por- 
tions of  its  domain  for  Indian  reservations  and  military  uses. 
But  nevertheless  all  this  subtracted  relatively  Httle  from 
the  vast  extent  of  the  pubHc  lands. 

The  great  bulk  of  the  grazing  country  as  well  within 
Texas  as  beyond  its  borders  still  awaited  the  prospective 
hordes  of  settlers  who  should  absorb  the  almost  countless 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RANCHING  17 

acres  by  each  settler^s  taking  into  his  private  ownership,  as 
a  grant  from  the  government,  the  comparatively  modest 
holding  which,  for  Texan  realty,  was  contemplated  by  Texan 
law,  and,  for  property  beyond  the  Texan  borders,  was  pre- 
scribed by  federal  statutes.  Until  each  particular  tract 
thus  passed  into  private  ownership,  it  remained  a  part  of 
the  so-called  '^vacant''  public  lands,  and  was  open,  as  was 
every  other  tract  of  such  vacant  public  lands,  to  use  by 
whoever  cared  to  enjoy  it.  Thus  all  its  grass  and  water 
were  free  to  every  comer. 

Such  were  the  so-called  ''free  grass"  and  ''free  water" 
of  Western  history,  a  grass  and  water  that  in  combination 
were  flippantly  termed  "free  air."  The  vacant,  grazing- 
lands,  because  open  to  everybody,  were  dubbed  the  "open 
Range." 

The  phrase  "open  Range,"  as  used  colloquially,  had  vari- 
ous significances.  It  might  mean  the  mere  condition  of 
being  "open"  to  the  public.  It  might  mean  a  particular 
Western  locality  thus  "open."  It  might  mean,  too,  either 
the  entire  area  of  the  Cattle  Country,  or  else  the  collective 
people  that  inhabited  it.  _j 

The  phrase  "the  Range"  also  had  differentiations  insig- 
nificance identical  with  these. 

But  for  the  existence  of  the  open  Range  and  the  govern- 
ment's tacit  consent  to  its  use  by  ranchmen.  Western  ranch- 
ing would  not  have  been  conducted  on  the  bold,  adventur- 
ous lines  which  history  records,  probably  would  not  have 
expanded  beyond  the  raising  of  small  bands  of  animals  by 
individual  farmers;  there  would  have  been  little  opportunity 
for  round-ups,  and  scant  need  for  cowboys. 

Had  the  various  ranchers  been  called  upon  to  pay  fair 
value  for  the  lands  which  their  several  herds  of  animals 
needed,  few  of  them  could  have  met  the  demand,  and  to 
the  majority  of  these  few  would  have  remained  little,  if 
any,  capital  wherewith  to  purchase  their  initial  animals. 


18  THE  COWBOY 

Furthermore,  only  in  certain  localities  could  very  extensive 
single  tracts  surely  be  gotten  in  private  ownership.  They 
were  obtainable  with  certainty  only  through  purchasing 
from  railways  some  of  the  alternate  sections  which  had  been 
governmentally  ceded  to  the  latter,  and  piecing  them  out 
by  buying  the  intervening  homesteads,  or  through  purchas- 
ing Texan  lands  which  that  State  previously  had  granted; 
although  occasionally  some  one  attempted  an  amassing  by 
hiring  numerous  individuals  to  act  as  dummies,  and  either 
to  make  false  homestead  entries  on  many  contiguous  tracts 
or  to  buy  from  the  State  of  Texas  numerous  coterminous 
parcels  within  that  Staters  boundaries. 

But,  though  the  grazing-grounds  legally  were  "open," 
they  practically  were  closed  to  such  ranches  as  did  not 
have  access  to  water.  Accordingly  each  rancher  pre- 
empted all  the  watercourses  or  springs  he  reasonably  might 
hold,  and  stood  ready  to  defend  his  claim  to  their  rightful 
and  exclusive  ownership.  These  invaluable  water  outlets, 
these  so-called  "pieces  of  water,"  if  not,  as  sometimes,  pur- 
chased by  the  rancher  from  an  earlier  individual  grantee, 
or  from  a  railway,  would  be  in  the  tract  the  government  had 
granted  the  rancher  under  one  or  more  of  the  laws  above 
cited,  and  quite  possibly  also  in  adjacent  tracts  over  which 
he  had  obtained  control  through  the  willingness  of  obliging 
cowboys  to  pose  as  intending  settlers  and  subsequently  to 
sell  the  landed  birthright  which  the  statutes  had  accorded 
them. 

Thus  few  ranchers  bothered  themselves  with  the  legal 
ownership  of  lands  beyond  such  as  either  held  the  water  or 
were  the  site  of  their  ranch  buildings,  and  many  of  the  men 
did  not  go  even  so  far  as  to  acquire  ownership  of  this  latter 
site. 

The  rancher,  when  selecting  a  location  for  his  establish- 
ment, gave  almost  as  much  consideration  to  the  land's 
capacity  for  yielding  winter  shelter  to  his  live  stock  as  he 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RANCHING  19 

did  to  the  matter  of  the  supply  of  water  and  grass.  Ground 
interlaced  by  hills  and  hollows  offered  to  the  animals  in 
winter  not  only  patches  of  grass  devoid  of  snow,  but  also 
screens  from  bitter  winds.  But,  because  as  between  shel- 
ter and  water  the  latter  was  the  more  important,  the  rancher, 
if  he  could  not  find  both  of  them  conjoined,  often  was  forced 
to  content  himself  with  lands  well  watered  and  well  grassed, 
though  with  no  defensive  contours.  Nothing  could  be  in 
summer  a  substitute  for  water,  though  in  winter  the  animals 
could  somewhat  quench  their  thirst  by  eating  snow.  Dan- 
gerous as  were  winter's  storms  in  open  country,  they  were 
not  as  perilous  as  were  summer's  droughts  on  arid  ranges. 

In  conformity  with  the  theory  of  the  open  Range,  freei 
grass  and  free  water,  no  fencing  was  permissible  by  law' 
except  for  the  enclosure  of  lands  held  in  legal  ownership, 
though  custom,  despite  the  law,  sanctioned  additional  fences, 
if  in  the  immediate  vicinity  of  ranch  buildings  or  in  thq 
form  of  isolated  corrals.  ^-'^^ 

The  proof  of  legal  ownership  was  sometimes  complete, 
but  often  it  was  a  bit  flimsy.  It  might  be  formal  papers 
conclusively  showing  an  honestly  acquired  and  vaUd  title. 
It  might  be  a  reference,  if  in  Texas,  to  a  local  statute,  or,  if 
elsewhere,  to  one  of  the  federal  laws  for  encouraging  set- 
tlement, the  ^'Homestead,"  "Desert,"  or  "Timber"  Acts. 
It  might  be  advice  in  Montana  that  the  grass  would  be 
found  to  be  better  in  Idaho  or  Arizona.  It  might  be  a 
terse  request  to  "vamose  the  ranch,"  to  "pull  your  freight," 
or  to  "git."  It  might  be  a  gun.  But  the  West  was  not 
disposed  to  cavil  about  the  character  of  evidence.  When 
it  found  a  man  in  possession  it  might  envy  him,  but  it  was 
apt  to  leave  him  undisturbed,  and  to  "prospect  around" 
for  other  and  unoccupied  property,  optimistically  assum- 
ing that  the  search  would  be  short  and  successful. 

In  no  whit  did  all  these  customs  change  after  heavily 
capitalized  corporations  had  absorbed  many  of  the  thereto- 


20  THE  COWBOY 

fore  individually  owned  ranches.  There  were,  as  excep- 
tions, lessees  of  Indians'  lands  in  present  Oklahoma,  or  occa- 
sional ranchmen  who  were  scattered  elsewhere  and  who 
actually  owned  the  grazing-lands  of  which  their  herds  made 
use.  Some  of  these  excepted  men  fenced  their  ground,  but 
these  excepted  ranchers,  save  such  of  them  as  were  lessees 
from  Indians,  usually  had  small  holdings. 

A  rancher's  animals  grazed  in  the  neighborhood  of  the 
water  he  controlled.  The  lands  which  these  animals  thus 
habitually  used  were  called  their  owner's  range  in  contra- 
distinction from  the  Range,  that  is  from  the  entire  grazing 
country.  If  water  in  this  rancher's  locality  were  unstinted, 
the  herds  of  several  ranchers  might  intermingle  on  the  feed- 
ing-grounds, incidentally  each  owner  referring  to  the  entire 
tract  as  his  own  range.  The  number  of  beasts  supportable 
by  even  such  a  generously  watered  section  was  not  unlim- 
ited, for  the  quantity  and  quality  of  grass  were  also  deter- 
mining factors.  Accordingly  Western  custom  prescribed 
that  the  ranchers,  in  the  chronological  order  of  their  pre- 
empting the  lands  involved,  should  have  right  of  pastoral 
satisfaction,  and  that  no  late-arriving  rancher  might  graze 
his  animals  upon  these  lands  unless  all  the  animals  of  the 
earlier-coming  ranchers  were  assured  of  ample  fodder. 
Whatever  late-arriving  ranchmen,  in  contravention  of  this 
tenet,  intruded  upon  an  already  filled  range  were  met  by 
a  boycott  whenever  they  sought  assistance  in  the  handling 
of  their  Hve  stock. 

This  boycott  was  the  one  and  only  permissible  violation 
of  the  Old  West's  otherwise  jealously  enforced  precept: 
"Help  thy  neighbor  as  thyself." 

By  reason  of  the  dependence  upon  water,  ranchers  who 
owned  a  large  number  of  animals  were,  in  some  localities, 
unable  to  keep  all  of  their  beasts  within  a  single  tract,  and 
so  were  forced  to  distribute  these  beasts  among  several  in- 
dependent and  often  widely  separated  ranges. 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RANCHING  21 

If,  as  in  a  semiarid  country,  one  person  were  seized  of  all 
the  scanty,  local  supply  of  drink,  he  might,  from  this  mere 
ownership,  enjoy  the  exclusive  usage  of  mile  after  mile  of 
herbage.  Such  a  monopoHst  could  keep  this  kingdom  to 
himself,  or  else,  by  rental  or  gift,  could  allow  to  others  ac- 
cess to  the  water,  and  thus  ability  to  use  the  adjacent  grass. 

Many  a  rancher  who,  through  control  of  water,  was  able 
to  exclude  other  stock-raisers  from  the  rancher^s  range  could 
not  bar  out  the  farmer  when  years  afterward  the  latter 
ultimately  arrived.  The  farmer,  when  he  came,  found 
many  spots  where,  by  reason  of  the  considerable  size  of  the 
streams  or  lakes,  the  already  established  local  ranchers  had 
been  unable  to  pre-empt  the  entire  water  body;  and  there, 
with  a  frontage  which  at  the  water ^s  edge  was  wide  enough 
for  the  intake  of  the  farmer's  irrigation  ditches,  though  not 
for  the  watering  of  many  animals,  the  farmer  homesteaded. 
A  second  farmer  would  homestead  at  the  first  one's  rear, 
and,  by  a  ditch  permitted  across  the  first  one's  land,  would 
lead  water  to  the  second  farmer's  place.  Dry-farming  could 
be  practised  with  but  little  surface  water,  so  that  farms, 
once  finding  an  agreeable  resting  spot,  were  apt  to  multiply. 
Ranches  could  not  exist  amid  the  farms. 

The  earliest  ranchers  and  cowboys  of  the  Cattle  Country 
came  directly  from  the  initial  Texan  and  the  other  frontier 
ranches,  and  from  the  frontier  farms.  Of  the  later  recruits 
some  were  the  sons  of  these  pioneers,  while  the  rest  came 
from  the  farms,  villages,  and  cities  anywhere  and  every- 
where in  the  United  States  and  even  in  Great  Britain. 
Aristocrats  and  plebeians,  men  from  each  and  every  busi- 
ness, profession,  and  trade,  and  the  sons  of  such  men  ap- 
peared upon  the  Range. 

The  vast  majority  of  the  arrivals  were  represented  by 
persons  who  moved  West  of  their  own  volition,  and  pri- 
marily because  of  the  lure  of  the  Cattle  Country.  The  small 
and  presumably  exceedingly  small  minority  was  represented 


22  THE  COWBOY 

by  criminals  whose  proximate  object  had  been  to  escape 
jail  doors  in  the  East,  and  who  had  turned  to  the  Range  as 
a  mere  hiding-place. 

Many  a  young  man,  on  his  own  initiative  and  for  love  of 
adventure,  on  medical  advice  and  for  hope  of  recovery,  or 
on  parental  compulsion  and  for  chance  of  reform,  exchanged 
a  metropolis  for  the  bunch-grass  and  mesquite.  The  uni- 
versities of  the  Atlantic  coast  and  of  Great  Britain  had, 
amid  the  sage-brush,  a  representation  which  was  strong 
numerically,  if  a  bit  weak  academically.  It  was  this  latter 
weakness  that  kept  it  from  making  any  scholastic  impres- 
sion. 

While  the  men  of  the  Range  were  mainly  of  Enghsh  or 
Irish  descent  or  bu-th,  and  had,  in  frequent  instances,  claim 
to  early  American  ancestors  of  Scottish  origin,  the  South- 
west added  to  its  quota  of  such  bloods  numerous  men  of 
Mexican  extraction,  and  a  more  than  occasional  negro, 
with  here  and  there  men  of  strain  partly  Indian.  The  great 
majority  of  all  the  men  were  American  born.  The  largest 
single  immediate  source  of  the  puncher  was  doubtless  the 
section  covered  by  Texas  and  western  Missouri,  for  ahnost 
every  ranch  employed  at  some  time  a  '* Texas  Ike^'  or  a 
*'Tex,"  and  was  famihar  with  the  Missouri  drawl. 

The  sticky  clay  of  the  South  had  prevented  the  building 
of  good  roads,  and  thus  kept  successive  generations  of 
Southern  men  out  of  wheeled  vehicles  and  in  the  saddle, 
and  so  had  developed  the  Southerner  into  an  innate  rider. 
Incidentally,  a  first-class  rider  like  a  particularly  accurate 
shooter,  was  ''born,  not  made." 

The  references  hereinbefore  contained  to  young  men  for 
whom  was  sought  moral  improvement  did  not  mean  to  as- 
sert, or  even  imply,  that  such  men,  to  any  considerable 
extent,  had  been  criminal  in  either  achievement  or  intent. 
The  most  of  them,  in  fact,  had  transgressed  or  promised  to 
transgress  merely  ethical  decency,  and  not  formal  law.    The 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RANCHING  23 

heinousness  of  almost  all  of  these  young  scapegraces  lay 
not  so  much  in  what  they  had  done  as  in  what  conservative 
advisers  of  family  warned  that  they  might  do.  Liquor  and 
undesirable  affairs  of  the  heart  accounted  for  the  presence 
of  many,  and  here  and  there  was  one  who  in  England  had 
been  socially  sentenced  to  a  disappearance  until  his  people 
should  succeed  in  paying  his  debts,  and  so  wipe  out  a  stain 
on  a  title. 

Thus  England^s  delegation  was  comprised  not  so  much 
of  the  sons  of  business  men  and  of  the  middle  class  as  it 
was  of  the  delightfully  companionable,  mildly  reprobate,  and 
socially  outcast  members  of  the  gentry  and  nobihty,  these 
latter  persons  being,  in  part,  self-supporting,  in  part,  as 
''remittance  men,"  dependent  on  moneys  forwarded  from 
overseas.  These  aristocrats  withheld  all  mention  of  the 
titles  which  their  elder  brothers  bore,  passed  under  what- 
ever names  they  themselves  arbitrarily  assumed,  but  could 
not  permanently  expunge  from  their  manners  the  ear- 
marks of  gentle  blood. 

Sometimes  a  slip  of  the  tongue  disclosed  identity.  News 
of  the  result  of  an  English  university  boat-race  produced  in 
Montana  the  spontaneous  cry:  ''Thank  God,  we  won!" 
An  Easterner,  present  and  unfamiliar  with  the  Western  code, 
asked  a  liquor-wrecked  wrangler  why  he  should  have  cared 
so  much.  The  latter  blurted  out,  before  his  excitement  had 
died  away:  "Why,  man,  once  I  stroked  that  crew!"  and 
then  the  mask  fell  to  its  old  position. 

The  West  contained  more  than  one  signet-ring,  cut  with 
ancestral  arms  and  studiously  hidden  under  a  flannel  shirt. 
Such  a  bauble  at  no  time  was  revealed  unless  its  owner  joy- 
fully had  received  from  home  advice  that  his  sins  had  been 
forgiven,  that  the  social  coast  was  clear,  and  that  he  might 
return;  or  unless  its  possessor,  about  to  "cross  the  Divide," 
with  body  amid  the  grama-grass,  and  with  thoughts  appor- 
tioned between  the  hereafter  and  some  great  country  house 


24  THE  COWBOY 

in  England,  shamefacedly,  hesitatingly,  desperately  was 
confiding  to  an  uncouth  attendant  an  heraldic  seal,  a  packet 
of  woman's  letters,  and  an  oral  message.  The  contents  of 
these  death-bed  commissions  never  were  disclosed  to  any 
but  the  designated  consignee,  and  faithfully  and  promptly 
were  transmitted  to  their  proper  destination;  the  ring  and 
letter  packet  in  sealed  wrapper,  along  with  a  laboriously  in- 
dited screed  in  which  the  scrivener,  after  reciting  that  he 
had  taken  his  pen  in  hand,  accurately  recounted  every  word 
committed  to  his  charge  by  the  excommunicate,  and  added, 
in  preface  and  conclusion,  the  entire  story  of  the  outcast's 
Western  life  so  far  as  it  was  known. 

It  was  to  the  glory  of  the  cowboy  that  he  unfailingly  ful- 
filled such  trusts.  It  was  to  the  joy  of  more  than  one  Eng- 
lish family  that  a  scrawhng  missive  from  a  distant  puncher 
revealed  a  secret  which  had  long  been  buried  in  a  single  and 
tormented  breast,  and,  by  the  revelation,  conclusively 
established  that  what  mistakenly  had  been  accepted  as 
confession  of  turpitude  had  been,  in  fact,  merely  unfortunate 
appUcation  of  haughty  pride. 

But  England's  representation  was  not  all  from  her  gentry 
and  nobility.  Her  middle  class,  too,  sent  delegates.  These 
latter  were,  in  part,  as  fine  a  lot  of  men  as  ever  lived,  and,  in 
other  part  subscribed  for  the  London  Graphic,  in  order  to 
know  the  current  doings  of  the  then  Prince  of  Wales,  and 
so  be  enabled  to  relate  anecdotes  that  intimated  frequent 
association  with  him.  In  certain  sections  of  Texas,  during 
the  final  seventies  and  the  early  eighties,  to  people  unfa- 
miliar both  with  London  and  with  America's  West,  it  might 
well  have  seemed  that  all  the  most  intimate  male  friends 
of  the  late  King  Edward  VII  had  received  his  reluctant 
consent  to  their  absence  from  court,  and,  for  a  monthly 
wage  of  twenty-five  dollars,  were  herding  sheep  in  Texas. 
The  more  insistent  men  of  this  latter  type  were  sometimes 
referred  to  upon  the  Cattle  Range  as  ^'belted  earls." 


THE  BEGINNINGS  OF  RANCHING  25 

The  English  delegation,  as  a  whole,  comprised  in  number 
a  small  percentage  of  the  ranchmen,  but  it  was  conspicuous 
because  of  its  social  individuahty  and  the  largeness  of  its 
financial  interest. 

Whether  a  man  began  his  Range  life  as  a  rancher  or  as  VJ 
a  cowboy  was  predetermined  by  the  extent  of  his  finances.  \\ 
Men  of  college  training  tended,  for  this  reason  and  also 
because  of  their  usually  indifferent  riding,  to  fall  entirely 
into  the  rancher  class.  Whether  a  man  starting  as  a  cow- 
boy graduated  into  the  rancher  class  depended  on  the  same 
factors  as  ever  have  obtained  in  deciding  whether  one  in 
any  calling  were  to  remain  an  employee  or  become  an  em- 
ployer, the  factors  of  brains,  character,  and  luck. 

The  average  cowboy  on  entering  the  industry  did  so  with 
expectation  that  he  would  follow  it  during  his  entire  work- 
ing life,  while  for  many  of  the  ranch-owners,  especially  for 
such  as  were  from  collegiate  sources,  there  was  intended 
but  a  temporary  connection  during  which  there  might  be 
effected  the  desired  improvement  in  character,  in  health, 
or  in  business  initiative. 

The  financial  capital  invested  in  ranching  represented,  in 
part,  the  increment  derived  through  years  of  frugality  by 
men  who  had  preferred  a  markedly  increasing  herd  to  the 
luxuries  for  which  a  portion  of  the  animals  might  have  been 
exchanged;  in  part,  money  ventured  by  men  experienced  in 
active  business  affairs  of  other  sort  and  who  had  hope  of 
considerable  profit;  and,  in  part,  cash  which  steadily  moved 
out  to  the  chaparral,  rabbit-brush,  and  greasewood  from 
sources  in  the  Eastern  States,  and  particularly  in  England. 
This  cash  either  betokened  paternal  endowments  of  the  at- 
tempts at  improvement,  or  else  indicated  conversions  of 
gilt-edged  securities  by  persons  who,  as  yet  in  their  twenty- 
second  year,  had  but  recently  received  from  erstwhile 
guardians  various  first-mortgage  bonds  supposedly  secure 
against  loss. 


26  THE  COWBOY 

Once  ranching  became  a  real  industry  its  followers,  in 
annually  increasing  numbers,  spread  westward,  until,  at  the 
zenith  of  the  business,  their  animals  dotted  the  plains  and 
foothills  from  central  Nebraska  to  the  mountains  of  the 
Pacific  slope,  from  Montana  to  the  Mexican  border,  and  so 
occupied  approximately  one-third  of  the  area  of  the  United 
States. 


CHAPTER  II 
RANCHMEN  AND  FARMERS 

PROTECTIVE  MEASURES — ^NEW  MEXICAN  AND  CALIFORNIAN  RANCHES — 
VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS — BRONCO's  VARIOUS  NAMES — ^IMPROVING  QUALITY 
OP  LIVE  STOCK — ^DECADENCE  OF  HORSE-RAISING — PRICES  OF  LIVE  STOCK — 
farmers'  advent  ENDS  RANCHING — RANCHMAN'S  AND  FARMER'S  VALUE 
TO  STATE  COMPARED — ^DISPERSAL  OF  RANCHMEN  ON  ENDING  OF  OPEN 
RANGE — VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS  —  RANCHWOMEN  — "  COWGIRLS  " — ANTIPA- 
THY TO  SHEEP — ^ITS  CAUSES  AND  ITS  CESSATION 

The  ranching  industry,  once  it  had  become  estabhshed, 
was  everywhere  guarded,  not  only  by  State  laws  but  also 
by  stockmen's  voluntary  associations  (these  associations 
later  largely  supplanted,  in  their  functions,  by  official  stock 
commissioners)  which  in  various  States  maintained  inspec- 
tors, and  as  the  horse  thief's  enemy  armed  and  mounted 
Range  detectives.  ' 

When  Texas  embarked  in  ranching,  present  New  Mexico 
also  had  ranches  which  were  of  Mexican  origin  and  as  old 
as  those  of  Texas.  But  at  the  outset  of  ranching  as  a  na- 
tional industry  in  the  United  States,  New  Mexico  was  too 
isolated  for  its  establishments  to  be  a  participating  factor. 
As  ranching  spread  westward  from  its  Texan-Nebraskan- 
Kansan  birthplace.  New  Mexico  eventually  was  reached, 
and  its  establishments  were  absorbed  into  the  nationaUzed 
system. 

I  California,  too,  had  its  ranches,  many  of  them  of  Mexican 
genesis  and  coeval  with  those  of  Texas,  some  of  them  with 
vast  acreage;  but,  while  California's  method  of  raising  cattle 
and  horses  was  the  same  as  that  of  the  country  east  of  the 
Sierras,  its  civiUzation  was  different.  The  ''Pacific  sloper" 
and  the  plainsman  were  not  actuated  by  identical  tradition. 
Mines,   farms,    Oriental   commerce,   and   San   Francisco's 

27 


28  THE  COWBOY 

metropolitan  life  had  in  California  prestige  such  as  pre- 
vented the  local  ranchmen  from  shaping  that  State's  public 
opinion  as  their  more  easterly  brothers  did  the  local  senti- 
ment in  their  own  bailiwicks.  It  is  with  these  more  easterly 
brothers  that  this  book  deals. 

These  more  easterly  brothers,  whose  westward  limit  was 
'Himber-Une"  upon  the  eastern  side  of  the  Sierra^  and  the 
Cascades,  were  the  '^ Westerners.''  The  people  who  hved 
still  farther  west  were  not  ''Westerners"  but  ''slopers," 
^  though  such  of  them  as  had  the  right  to  do  so  might,  if 
they  wished,  call  themselves,  instead,  '' Calif ornians." 

By  selective  breeding  of  live  stock  and  the  admixture  of 
imported  blood,  the  ranchmen  gradually  absorbed  the  former 
wild  horse  into  a  markedly  more  tractable  and  somewhat 
physically  larger  type,  eight  hundred  pounds  against  the 
earlier  six  hundred. 

The  new  product,  nevertheless,  did  not  wholly  rid  itself 
of  its  ''wild"  progenitor's  Spanish  name,  although  it  went 
80  far  as  to  modify  the  spelling.  However  much  the  South 
might  speak  of  "cow-horses,"  however  much  the  North 
might  mention  "ponies,"  however  frequently  both  South 
and  North  might  betake  themselves  to  slang  and  talk  of 
"fuzzies"  (Range  horses)  and  "broomies"  or  "broom  tails" 
(Range  mares),  there  continuously  cropped  out,  in  either 
section,  the  original  appellation.  This  was  "bronco"  (from 
Spanish  "broncho,"  meaning  rough,  rude),  though  it  often 
was  contracted  into  "bronc"  or  "bronk,"  and  also  was  in- 
terchangeable, particularly  in  the  Southwest,  with  "mus- 
tang," and,  especially  in  Oregon,  with  "cayuse"  or,  as 
sometimes  spelled,  "kiuse."  Such  interchange  was  the 
more  apt  to  occur  when  a  local  purist  in  language  was  re- 
lieving his  mind  on  the  subject  of  his  animal's  moral  in- 
firmities. Texas,  when  speaking  technically,  restricted 
"mustang"  to  the  unmixed  wild  horse,  and  limited  "bronco" 
to  such  of  these  as  were  particularly  "mean"  in  nature. 


RANCHMEN  AND  FARMERS  29 

Like  breeding  and  importation  improved  the  cattle, 
which,  though  they  doubled  in  weight  and  shortened  their 
horns,  but  httle  bettered  in  temper. 

It  is  said  that  upon  the  Range  the  interchangeable  terms, 
''tenderfoots''  and  '^pilgrims,"  were  appHed  first  to  these 
imported  cattle,  and  not  until  later  were  attached  to  human 
newcomers. 

This  breeding  animals  into  better  blood,  this  raising  of 
so-called  "graded''  stock  was,  commercially,  a  great  advance 
over  the  prior  ranching  methods,  which  had  infused  no 
new  blood  into  the  horses  and  the  cattle  obtained  from 
Mexico.  These  Mexican  horses  may  have  been  able  to 
trace  their  ancestry  back,  through  Spain,  to  the  Arabian 
steeds,  that  the  Moors  carried  thither  in  the  eighth  century. 
These  Mexican  cattle  may  have  been  able  to  prove  them- 
selves kin  of  the  thoroughbred  bulls  of  the  Spanish  ring. 
But  blood,  save  in  isolated  animals,  apparently  had  de- 
generated. 

A  limited  number  of  ranches,  principally  of  English  own- 
ership, essayed  the  raising  exclusively  of  thoroughbred 
cattle;  but  these  ranches  were  so  relatively  few  as  not  to 
be  a  conmiercially  important  factor,  except  to  the  extent 
that  their  blooded  animals  interbred  with  the  commoner 
beasts  of  the  Range,  and  so  tended  to  ''grade  up"  the  com- 
mercial beef  herd. 

Practically  no  ranches  had  horses  of  thoroughbred  racing 
strain. 

In  the  twelve  years  conunencing  with  1875,  the  stockmen 
were  at  the  height  of  their  prestige.  Then  came  the  col- 
lapse of  the  horse  market  owing  to  the  rapid  substitution, 
throughout  the  country,  of  electricity  for  the  horse  as  the 
motive  power  of  street-cars.  For  years  the  traction  com- 
panies had  been  the  largest  and  most  tolerant  customers. 
They  not  only  had  bought  in  great  quantity,  but  also  had 
accepted  animals  which  no  one  else  would  purchase. 


30  THE  COWBOY 

Cable  tramways  already  had  somewhat  threatened  values; 
but  the  blow  fell  in  1887,  when,  at  Richmond,  Virginia,  the 
initial  American  electric  trolley-car  began  to  move,  although 
it  was  not  until  some  four  or  five  years  later  that  this  type 
of  car  came  into  general  use.  Everywhere  upon  the  Range 
the  price  of  an  unbroken  'Hop"  or  first-class  horse  sagged 
from  twenty-five  dollars  to  fifteen  dollars  and  below,  and 
the  long-established  valuation  of  fifteen  dollars  per  head  for 
untrained  animals  in  lots  of  size  was  smashed  to  pieces. 
In  eastern  Oregon,  for  a  short  while,  ''just  a  horse"  would 
bring  at  forced  sale  but  a  dollar  and  a  quarter.  In  Dakota 
one  rancher,  the  Marquis  De  Mores,  attempted  to  slaughter 
and  can  horses  as  a  food  for  European  consumption. 

This  subject  of  prices  suggests  the  fact  that,  throughout 
the  life  of  the  industry,  "gentling,"  i.  e.,  breaking,  a  horse 
added  ordinarily  ten  dollars  to  the  value  it  had  had  as  an 
unbroken  animal,  and  that,  during  the  same  period,  "thirty- 
dollar  steers"  had  the  normal  high  mark  in  the  cattlemen's 
good  years. 

Though  the  market  for  horses  fell  away,  the  demand  for 
cattle  continued  unabated.  Yet  the  open  Range  was 
nearing  its  end. 

By  the  year  1887  all  ranchmen  had  begun  to  feel  the 
pinch  of  the  wire  fences  which  the  immigrant  settlers,  under 
governmental  protection,  were  putting  about  their  newly 
homesteaded  farms;  farms  homesteaded  on  what,  until 
these  fences,  had  been  part  of  the  open  Range.  The  stock- 
men, with  their  threats,  their  wire  cutters,  and  occasionally 
their  guns,  at  times  ejected  the  would-be  farmer.  But  he 
had  the  government  behind  him;  and  patiently,  slowly, 
surely  his  fences  crept  snakelike  around  the  waterholes, 
isolated  many  sections  of  the  grazing-lands,  and  killed  the 
open  Range  by  thirst. 

These  farmers  hastened  the  result  ahnost  ever3rwhere  by 
bleeding  through  their  irrigation  ditches  streams  theretofore 


RANCHMEN  AND  FARMERS  31 

devoted  wholly  to  the  live  stock,  and  also  m  certain  States 
by  a  grim  process  of  the  law.  They  procured  various  legis- 
latures to  enact  statutes  requiring  stockmen  either  to  fence 
in  their  live  stock  or  else  to  stand  liable  for  their  animals' 
destruction  of  the  farmers'  unenclosed  grain-fields.  Im- 
migration had  brought  the  farmer  into  poUtical  ascendancy, 
and  he  thus  through  law  ordered  the  rancher  to  commit 
suicide. 

The  stockmen  made  their  final  show  of  forceful  opposi- 
tion in  1892,  during  the  so-called  ''Rustler  War"  in  Wyo- 
ming. United  States  cavalry  intervened;  and  the  American 
cowboys  there  aligned  in  fighting  array,  representing  all 
their  brethren  as  well  as  themselves,  surrendered  ostensibly 
to  the  cavalry,  practically  to  the  farmer,  and,  as  a  dominant 
social  and  political  factor,  dismounted  forever. 

There  still  remain  in  1922  large  fenced  ranches  and  large 
areas  of  ungirt  grazing-land,  the  latter  open  to  the  pubUc; 
there  still  ride  in  1922  men  who  sit  the  buck  as  well  as  ever 
it  was  sat,  but  already  in  1892  the  stirring  West- wide  open 
Range,  sick  for  many  years  theretofore  with  wire  fence, 
had  died  as  a  national  factor,  as  virtually  a  state. 

The  ranchmen  of  the  open  Range,  although  squatters 
on  the  land,  and  in  the  main  intending  but  transient  stay 
either  of  definite  years  or  until  enmeshed  by  prospective 
farmers'  fences,  were  of  economic  value  to  the  pubhc.  They 
converted  otherwise  unused  grasses  into  living  flesh  during 
the  time  in  which  the  West  was  awaiting  the  arrival  of  im- 
migrant farmers  who  should  people  its  plains,  become  per- 
manent citizens,  and  put  the  lands  to  more  profitable  use. 
The  State  could  well  afford,  until  the  ultimate  settler  ar- 
rived upon  the  soil,  to  suffer  its  use  by  the  rancher.  Though 
he  added  nothing  to  it,  he  took  nothing  from  it  beyond  that 
the  wild  verdure  was  eaten,  instead  of  annually  dying  and 
merging  in  the  humus.  Meanwhile  his  live  stock  brought 
some  money  into  the  State. 


32  THE  COWBOY 

But  when  the  permanent  settler  arrived  the  latter^s  sub- 
stitution offered  more.  The  rancher  had  raised  no  crops 
of  any  sort.  Beef  and  horse-flesh  had  been  his  sole  business 
and  his  bucohc  horizon.  His  live  stock,  wholly  dependent 
on  wild  forage,  had  required  for  the  sustenance  of  each 
animal  never  less  than  an  acre  and  a  quarter,  in  the  average 
locality  approximately  eleven  acres,  and  in  some  regions 
as  many  as  twenty-five  acres.  Consequently  a  single  herd 
had  occupied  space  available  for  several  farms.  The  per- 
manent settler  planted  fields,  and  by  irrigation  increased 
both  the  arable  area  and  the  grazing  capacity.  Within  his 
fences  were  a  few  cattle  which  received  attention  such  as 
would  have  been  impossible  upon  the  wide  stretches  of  the 
open  Range,  and  thereby  the  farmer^s  cattle  far  surpassed 
in  quality  their  freer  forebears.  Before  long  the  aggregate 
farmers  raised  annually  more  cattle  than  had  all  the  ranch- 
men in  any  year.  The  farmer  brought  increased  wealth  to 
the  State. 

Then,  too,  through  him  the  State  gained  in  virility  of 
citizenship.  The  various  ranchers  and  their  employees,  own- 
ing virtually  no  soil  and  living  on  lands  which  in  almost 
their  entirety  were  property  of  government,  had,  save  in 
the  case  of  the  Texans,  but  lukewarm  allegiance  to  the  par- 
ticular poHtical  subdivisions  in  which  their  several  ranches 
lay.  The  ranchmen,  for  the  most  part,  while  intensely 
loyal  to  the  United  States  and  to  the  West  as  such,  were 
citizens  of  the  Range  rather  than  of  any  definite  poUtical 
subdivision.  The  various  farmers,  on  the  other  hand, 
owned  land,  and  from  this  mere  fact  of  ownership  became 
ardent  partisans  of  the  several  States  in  which  their  lands 
were  situated. 

It  was  well  that  the  ranchman  of  the  open  Range  came. 
It  also  was  well  that  he  went. 

While  the  Range  was  being  slowly  murdered  and  com- 
mencing some  years  before  1892,  the  ranchmen  gradually 


RANCHMEN  AND  FARMERS  33 

remodelled  their  affairs;  many  of  these  men  keeping  an  eye 
open  for  some  new  land  of  adventure,  because  ranching  had 
assembled  many  true  soldiers  of  fortune. 

Such  of  the  owners  as  were  not  wedded  to  the  industry 
quit,  one  by  one,  and  were  absorbed  into  the  manifold  activi- 
ties the  world  pursues;  the  wars  in  Cuba  and  South  Africa 
offering  in  nimierous  instances  a  later  respite  from  prosaic 
office  work. 

Of  such  of  the  ranchers  as  preferred  to  continue  in  the 
business,  a  few  transferred  their  operations  to  Mexico,  to 
Canada,  or  to  Central  or  South  America;  while  the  rest, 
for  the  most  part,  relinquishing  long-standing  pretensions  of 
sovereignty  over  pubHc  areas  of  tremendous  extent,  adjust- 
ing their  minds  to  terms  of  hundreds  or  thousands  in  place 
of  the  corresponding  former  thousands,  tens  of  thousands, 
and  hundreds  of  thousands,  either  contented  themselves 
with  such  fragments  of  open  range  as  still  continued;  or 
else  they  converted  a  portion  of  their  herds  into  lands 
actually  owned  and  additional  to  the  modest  tract  obtained 
by  '^  filing  ^^  under  the  Homestead  Law,  wofully  stretched  a 
wire  fence  around  their  realty,  and  joined  the  class  which 
they  for  years  patronizingly  had  disdained,  that  of  the 
stock-raising  farmer.  Occasional  men  with  foresight,  un- 
usual abiUty,  and  large  capital  had  come,  through  years  of 
piecemeal  buying,  into  actual  ownership  of  at  least  a  large 
part  of  the  lands  they  had  used.  These  latter  men  con- 
tinued to  do  as  they  had  done;  but,  once  the  clear  dominance 
of  stock-raising  had  passed  and  other  industries  had  ap- 
peared in  quantity,  the  short-memoried  public  forgot  its 
obeisance  to  these  persons  as  cattle  kings,  and  with  some 
envy  and  great  local  pride  pointed  to  them  merely  as 
milHonaires. 

The  cowboys  followed  relatively  the  same  course  as  did 
the  owners. 

Some  of  the  punchers  migrated  to  the  ranges  of  foreign 


34  THE  COWBOY 

countries — Mexico,  Canada,  or  wherever.  Others  stuck  to 
the  ranges  of  the  United  States,  and,  with  minds  filled  with 
memories  of  big,  bygone  things,  rode  either  amid  the  com- 
paratively httle  free  grass  that  still  remained,  or  else  be- 
hind the  wire  fences  newly  installed  about  their  employers' 
ranches;  and,  in  the  latter  case,  as  punchers,  thus  immured, 
became  what  they  formerly  had  sneered  at,  *' pliers  men," 
so  called  from  their  tool  for  repairing  the  wire  strands  in 
fences.  Or  else,  emerging  in  modest  way  as  ranchers,  they 
placed  upon  a  homestead  of  one  hundred  and  sixty  acres 
a  cabin  and  a  few  animals,  which  represented  either  pos- 
sibly, but  improbably,  fruit  of  individual  savings,  or  almost 
surely,  and  instead,  a  ''stake"  by  appreciative  former  em- 
ployers. Still  others  abandoned  the  cow-horse  and  landed 
in  the  army,  in  Alaska's  mines,  in  San  Francisco's  ship- 
yards, in  Montana's  banks,  in  Denver's  shops,  in  the  lum- 
ber mills  of  Puget  Sound,  in  Chicago's  factories,  in  New 
England's  mills,  or  anywhere  a  suitable  job  was  open. 

A  stake  such  as  is  mentioned  above  was  an  unqualified 
gift,  while  a  *' grub-stake,"  according  to  the  usual  significance 
of  the  term,  required  its  recipient  to  pay  to  its  donor  an 
agreed  share  of  whatever  profit  might  accrue  from  the  en- 
terprise on  which  the  recipient  was  about  to  embark,  and 
for  the  furtherance  of  which  the  grub-stake  was  given. 

However,  each  of  these  words  might,  on  occasion,  be  used 
in  a  different  sense,  ''stake"  to  denote  either  one's  entire 
assets,  or  else  the  entire  amount  hazarded  in  any  venture; 
"grub-stake"  to  denote  one's  food-supply,  regardless  of  how 
obtained. 

Upon  the  new  and  tiny  ranch  "staked  to"  our  former 
cowboy,  very  likely  a  wife  soon  appeared. 

In  this  book  but  incidental  mention  will  be  made  of 
women.  The  reason  for  this  scant  consideration  is  that 
women  were  so  relatively  few  in  number  in  the  Cattle  Coun- 
try as  collectively  not  to  have  been  an  important  factor  in 


RANCHMEN  AND  FARMERS  35 

either  its  social  life  or  the  formation  of  its  opinions.  The 
Range  described  itself  as  a  *'he  country  in  pants." 

The  great  majority  of  the  ranchers  and  practically  all  of 
the  cowboys  were  unmarried.  Marriage  meant  almost 
always  for  the  man  of  gentle  birth  a  return  to  the  East,  or 
to  England,  and  usually  for  the  man  of  more  ordinary  blood 
retreat  from  the  open  country  and  settling  either  in  some 
town  or  upon  a  fenced  farm  near  it. 

There  were,  of  course,  from  time  to  time  at  various 
ranches  feminine  guests,  usually  sisters,  nieces,  fiancees, 
but  the  number  of  ranches  thus  happily  receiving  was  rela- 
tively very  small. 

There  were,  it  is  true,  permanently  living  on  numbers  of 
ranches  women,  some  of  them  of  superior  brain  and  far 
more  than  average  moral  force,  but  the  direct  influence 
of  all  ranchwomen  was  exerted  only  upon  their  immediate 
households.  No  outsider  was  given  the  privilege  of  in- 
timate association;  for,  at  the  moment  of  his  appearance, 
such  women  suppressed  their  bigger  selves,  retreated  to  the 
cook-stove,  and  promptly  set  to  flowing  a  stream  of  tooth- 
some dishes,  in  order  that  the  honor  of  the  ranch  might  be 
upheld  in  rivalry  with  all  other  ranches,  particularly  those 
in  which  other  females  lived,  and  in  order  also  that  inmates 
of  womanless  establishments  might  appreciate  the  extent 
of  their  deprivations.  There  were  a  few  ranches  owned 
and  capably  operated  by  women,  widows  of  former  ranch- 
men. Even  these  women  obeyed  the  custom  which  Range 
femininity  imposed  on  all  its  members,  and  fled  to  the 
kitchen  the  instant  a  visitor  had  received  his  welcome.  The 
women  of  the  Range  all  sacrificed  themselves  to  competitive 
housewifery. 

The  horse  being  the  principal  and  often  the  only  means 
of  transit,  many  of  these  women  and  many  of  their  daugh- 
ters rode  extremely  well.  Some  of  them  equalled  almost 
the  best  of  men  in  horsemanship,  though  lacking  the  vitality 


36  THE  COWBOY 

long  to  sit  a  violent  buck.  The  side-saddles  and  woollen 
riding-skirts  used  by  most  of  the  women,  the  modest  di- 
vided skirts  used  by  the  few  who  rode  astride,  imparted  to 
those  quiet,  unassimiing,  courageous  females  of  the  real 
frontier  none  of  the  garishness  which  that  modern  inven- 
tion, the  buckskin-clad  '^ cowgirl,"  takes  with  her  into  the 
circus  ring. 

These  ''cowgirls"  may  be  of  Western  blood  and  spirit, 
but  their  buckskin  clothing  speaks  of  the  present-day 
theatre  and  not  of  the  ranches  of  years  ago. 

In  the  heydey  of  the  open  Range  the  sheepmen  were  the 
pariahs  of  the  plains.  They  and  their  animals  were  anath- 
ema to  the  ranchers  of  horses  or  cattle.  The  fact  that 
legally  the  Range  was  as  open  to  sheep  as  it  was  to  horses 
and  cattle  availed  nothing.  Many  a  band  of  sheep,  in  wild 
stampede,  leaped  to  death  from  the  brink  of  a  canyon,  or 
in  bleating  fear  huddled  in  a  woods  to  await  the  arrival  of 
encircling  flames.  Cowboys  behind  the  stampede  or  at 
the  edges  of  the  forest  were  the  sponsors,  and  they  sent 
many  a  sheepman  to  a  sudden  and  unrecorded  grave. 

There  was  real  reason  for  this  feud.  The  horse  men  and 
cattlemen  were  the  pioneers  upon  the  Range.  They  had 
settled  themselves  in  places  to  their  Uking,  had  installed 
their  herds  about  them,  and  were  well  content  to  regard 
themselves  and  to  be  regarded  as  local  kings.  Presently 
arrived  the  sheepmen,  whose  flocks  with  their  busy  mouths 
nibbled  the  grass  to  its  roots;  with  their  sharp  hoofs  chopped 
those  roots  so  thoroughly  that  they  died;  with  their  con- 
stant travel  necessary  for  the  avoidance  of  disease  within 
large  flocks,  their  so-called  ''walk,"  carried  their  destruc- 
tion mile  after  mile,  and  cut  a  wide,  desolate  road  across 
the  plain;  and  with  their  pungency  either  left  upon  the 
groimd  a  scent  which  for  many  hours  was  apt  to  reach  the 
nostrils  of  passing  cattle  and  horses,  or  imparted  to  a  water- 
hole  a  lingering  taste  and  smell. 


RANCHMEN  AND  FARMERS  37 

Whether  it  was  in  recognition  of  this  war  upon  their 
food-supply,  whether  it  was  mere  dishke  for  the  searching 
odor  and  flavor,  or  whatever  else  was  the  cause,  the  cattle 
and  the  horses  hated  the  sheep  with  an  intense  and  con- 
stant hatred.  It  was  not  unusual  for  a  bunch  of  cattle 
lazily  streaming  across  a  range  to  stop  suddenly,  to  sniff, 
snort,  and  gallop  madly  away.  Its  leader  had  come  upon  ' 
the  trail  of  a  band  of  sheep.  Horses  were  as  wont  to  leave 
a  spot  so  accursed,  though  their  departure  generally  was 
less  precipitate. 

Some  wandering  shepherd  would  permit  his  flock  to  wade 
through  a  currentless  pool,  and  for  days  thereafter  the 
water  would  smell  and  taste  of  wool.  It  was  only  extreme 
thirst  that  led  horses  or  cattle  to  imbibe  water  thus  con- 
taminated; and,  so  soon  as  they  felt  the  drink's  refreshing 
effect,  they  were  very  receptive  of  suggestions  to  stampede. 
Very  possibly  the  nervousness  which  caused  the  stampede 
was  left  over  from  the  former  thirst,  but  ranchmen  unhesi- 
tatingly blamed  the  wool. 

The  vendetta  of  the  animals  extended  to  their  owners. 
In  various  locahties,  the  ranchers  of  horses  or  cattle  not 
only  arrogantly  announced  that  their  regions  were  closed 
to  sheep;  but  also,  when  so  doing,  were  far  from  niggardly 
regarding  the  boundaries  of  the  forbidden  territory.  Such 
pronouncements  had  to  the  feudal  senses  of  these  men  the 
force  of  law,  and  stern  punishment  was  meted  to  such  as 
transgressed  the  arbitrary  edicts.  The  sheep  raisers  even- 
tually tended  to  immure  themselves  and  their  ill-smelling 
flocks  within  various  segregated  sections,  which  promptly 
attained  in  the  eyes  of  the  raisers  of  horses  and  cattle  the 
social  status  of  leper  colonies.  Then  came  the  wire  fences,\ 
the  resultant  ending  of  the  open  Range,  and  with  that! 
ending  the  cessation  of  dissension. 

By  the  irony  of  fate  recent  years  have  proved  that  in 


38  THE  COWBOY 

various  parts  of  the  former  Cattle  Range  sheep,  not  cattle, 
are  the  profitable  tenants.  Thus  in  the  very  country  where 
wool  once  was  hated  save  by  a  few  harried  citizens,  it  now 
is  generally  applauded. 


CHAPTER  III 
DEFINITIONS  AND  COWBOY  WAYS 

VARIOUS  TITLES  FOR  COWBOY — VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS — NO  TYPICAL  COW- 
BOY— USE  OF  PISTOL — DANGEROUS  ANIMALS — BEAR-DOGS — LOCO-WEED — 
SHOOTING  AT  TENDERFOOTS*  FEET — ITS  INCENTIVE — CARRIAGE  AND  SHOOT- 
ING OF  PISTOL — EXTENT  OF  LATTER's  USE — PISTOL  NOT  ALWAYS  NECES- 
SITY— BAD  MAN,  P6EUD0  AND  ACTUAL — PISTOL  AS  NOISE-MAKER — RIFLE, 
ITS  TRANSPORT  AND  NAMES — CREASING  AND  WALKING  DOWN  MUSTANGS — 
VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS — INTIMACY  WITH  HORSES — THEIR  NAMES,  COLORA- 
TION AND  SECTIONAL  DIFFERENCES — KILLXNQ  HORSES — SIGNALLING — 
KNIFE — LARIAT 

The  cowboy  was  not  always  called  ''cowboy."  He 
everywhere  was  equally  well  known  as  ''cowpuncher"  or 
''puncher,"  "punching"  being  the  accepted  term  for  the 
herding  of  live  stock.  In  Oregon  he  frequently  was  called 
"baquero,"  "buckaroo,"  "buckhara,"  or  "buckayro,"  each 
a  perversion  of  either  the  Spanish  "vaquero,"  or  the  Span- 
ish "boy6ro,"  and  each  subject  to  be  contracted  into 
' '  bucker . ' '  In  Wyoming  he  preferred  to  be  styled  a  ' '  rider. ' ' 
To  these  various  legitimate  titles,  conscious  slang  added 
"bronco  peeler,"  "bronco  twister,"  and  "bronco  buster." 

He  was  a  cowboy  or  cowpuncher  whether  his  charges  were 
cattle  or  horses.  There  were  no  such  terms  as  horse-boy  or 
horse  puncher. 

Thus  called  a  cowboy  when  his  task  was  riding  as  an  em- 
ployee, he  lost  that  title  as  soon  as  he  became  a  ranch- 
owner;  and,  according  to  the  kind  of  stock  he  raised,  was 
termed  a  "horse  man"  or  else  interchangeably  a  "cowman," 
"cattleman,"  or  "cattle  man."  While  a  cattle  man  and  a 
cattleman  were  identical,  a  horse  man  and  a  horseman 
were  not.  Of  the  latter  the  first  raised  horses,  the  second 
was  either  a  mounted  person  or  one  versed  in  horsemanship. 

39 


40  THE  COWBOY 

Curiously,  though  the  word  ^'puncher"  was  created  but 
a  comparatively  few  decades  since,  its  derivation  is  now  un- 
known unless  it  relate  to  the  metal-pointed  goad  occasion- 
ally used  for  stimulating  cattle  when  they  were  being  urged 
to  board  railway  cars. 

While  punching  was  thus  the  accepted  term  for  the  herd- 
ing of  live  stock,  it  ordinarily  was  restricted  to  cattle,  the 
term  "herding"  being  used  in  connection  with  horses.  A 
cowpuncher  might  "punch"  or  "herd"  cattle,  but  collo- 
quial English  usually  made  him  "herd"  horses  and  would 
not  let  him  "punch"  them. 

Sheep  were  merely  "herded,"  and  that  by  "sheep-herd- 
ers," never  by  "cowboys." 

,  Every  cowboy  of  the  novel  or  the  adventure  story  fits 
squarely  into  one  of  the  three  species  created  by  fictionists. 
He  is  portrayed  in  these  several  species  as  being  necessarily 
clownish,  reckless,  excessively  joyful,  noisy,  and  profane; 
or  else  wolfish,  scheming,  sullen,  malevolent,  prone  to  am- 
bush and  murder;  or  else  dignified,  thoughtful,  taciturn, 
idealistic,  with  conscience  and  trigger-finger  accurate,  quick, 
and  in  unison,  and  also  in  all  these  species  as  being  assur- 
edly freighted  with  weapons,  terse  in  utterance,  and  pic- 
turesque in  apparel. 

In  reality,  there  were  no  species,  there  was  no  type. 
Cowboys,  as  Bart  Smith,  one  of  them,  said,  were  "Merely 
folks,  just  plain,  every-day,  bow-legged  humans."  Cow- 
boys, like  the  rest  of  the  ranchmen,  were  simply  the  men 
of  a  particular  trade;  were,  as  among  themselves,  as  diversi- 
fied in  disposition  as  were  and  always  will  be  other  men; 
and,  as  a  class,  had  from  the  followers  of  any  other  calling 
differentiation  in  but  a  limited  number  of  subordinate 
though  highly  specialized  attributes. 

Fictionists  to  the  contrary,  the  ranks  of  the  cowboys,  of 
all  ranchmen,  contained  but  few  swashbucklers,  particularly 
such  as  wore  long  hair.    Those  ranks  were  composed  largely 


DEFINITIONS  AND  COWBOY  WAYS  41 

of  men  with  character  and  heart,  of  men  whom  future  gen- 
erations well  may  regard  with  pride. 

The  writer  of  tales  has  made  the  ^'gun/'  ''six-gun,"  ''six- 
shooter,"  or  "shooting-iron,"  as  the  West  variously  termed 
the  pistol,  more  ubiquitous  even  than  long  hair,  has  im- 
posed at  least  two  of  these  weapons  upon  every  storied 
cowboy,  and  at  times  has  converted  him  into  a  veritable 
itinerant  arsenal. 

When  one  recalls  that  the  gun  actually  carried,  when 
one  was  carried,  was  the  forty-five  or  forty-four  caliber, 
eight-inch  barrelled,  single-action  Colt's  revolver,  weighing 
two  and  a  quarter  pounds,  and  that  its  ammunition  weighed 
something  in  addition;  when  one  recalls  also  that  the  aver- 
age cowpuncher  was  not  an  incipient  murderer,  but  was 
only  an  average  man  and  correspondingly  lazy,  then  one 
reahzes  to  be  true  the  statements  that  the  average  puncher 
was  unwilling  to  encumber  himself  with  more  than  one 
gun,  and  often  even  failed  to  "go  heeled"  (armed)  to  the 
extent  of  "packing"  (carrying)  that  imless  conditions  in- 
sistently demanded.  These  insistent  conditions  were,  first, 
expectation  of  attack  by  a  personal  enemy;  second,  service 
near  the  Mexican  border  or  in  an  Indian-infested  country; 
third,  a  ride  on  the  Range  where  there  might  be  met  human 
trespassers,  or  be  encountered  either  animals  dangerous  to 
stock  or  stock  hopelessly  injured  or  diseased,  tempera- 
mentally prone  to  assail  man  and  beast,  or  so  debased  that, 
for  breeding  reasons,  its  elimination  was  urgent;  fourth  and 
finally,  either  a  hoHday  visit  to  another  ranch  or  to  town, 
or  else  a  formal  call  on  a  girl. 

The  gun  not  only  was  an  integral  part  of  full  dress,  but 
also  was  to  the  mind  of  the  cowboy  as  effective  on  the 
female  heart,  and  as  compelUng  an  accompaniment  of  love- 
making  as  to  the  belief  of  the  young  soldier  has  ever  been 
the  sword. 

The  fewness  of  women  in  the  Cattle  Country  did  not 


f 


42  THE  COWBOY 

lessen  man's  wish  to  go  a-courting.  Any  female  could 
get  a  husband.  An  attractive  one  could  choose  from  an 
army. 

The  animals  Hkely  to  molest  stock  and  so  marked  for 
slaughter  included  coyotes,  bears,  timber-wolves,  mountain- 
Uons,  and  stray  dogs.  Every  strange  and  unattended 
canine  found  wandering  on  the  Range  was  prejudged  to 
have  had  murderous  intent,  and  was  sentenced  and  exe- 
cuted at  sight.  This,  however,  does  not  imply  that  the 
puncher  might  not  have  had  his  own  pet  dog  wagging  its 
tail  at  the  ranch-house. 

If  this  latter  dog  were  small,  curly,  yellow,  thoroughly 
mongrel  in  looks,  but  treated  with  profound  consideration, 
it  would  sell,  on  the  instant,  for  one  hundred  and  twenty- 
five  dollars,  this  being  in  amount  over  three  months'  pay 
for  a  first-class  rider.  All  this  would  mean  that  the  little 
\  brute  was  a  "bear-dog,"  a  cur  trained  to  hold  the  grizzly 
bear  by  staying  without  the  danger  zone,  yapping  at  Bruin's 
heels,  and  driving  him  to  such  irritation  that,  instead  of 
fleeing,  he  lost  his  judgment,  backed  up  against  a  tree  and 
made  a  target  for  the  rifle.  Such  a  dog  would  have  a  county- 
wide  reputation,  while  a  mere  blue-ribboned  thoroughbred 
would  be  frowned  upon  as  a  latent  killer  of  calves. 

The  dangerous  animals  comprised,  too,  occasional  horses, 
more  numerous  steers,  and  still  more  numerous  cows,  all 
seemingly  deranged  in  brain,  and  all  apt,  without  warn- 
ing, savagely  to  attack  their  fellows,  the  ranchmen,  or  the 
latters'  mounts. 

These  belUcose  horses  made  their  assaults  by  rearing,  and 
with  their  front  hoofs  striking  hammerlike  blows.  These 
warring  cattle  attacked  another  animal  or  a  mounted  man 
by  '^ prodding"  with  their  sharp  horns,  and  assailed  a  pedes- 
trian in  either  this  same  way  or  by  trampling  on  him. 

Part  of  these  ^ locoed"  brutes  were  victims  of  feeding 
upon  toxic  plants,  the  so-called  ^4oco  weeds"  (from  Span- 


DEFINITIONS  AND  COWBOY  WAYS  43 

ish  ''loco,"  meaning  mad),  but  others  of  the  beasts  had  not 
so  clear  excuse  for  their  insanity.  Horses  more  often  than 
cattle  became  addicts  to  the  poisonous  plants,  and  fre- 
quently spurned  legitimate  grasses  when  the  illegitimate 
weeds  could  be  obtained  in  quantity. 

These  weeds  recently  have  been  classified  by  scientists 
into  three  distinct  species,  of  which  one  with  purple  flowers 
and  hairy  leaves  and  stems  was  in  popular  parlance  indis- 
criminately called  ''purple  loco''  or  "woolly  loco."  The 
other  two  species  each  had  seed-pods  that,  when  dried, 
rattled  on  being  moved,  and  so  gave  to  each  of  these  species 
the  colloquial  and  undistinctive  title  of  "rattleweed." 
There  were  other  popular  titles;  for,  of  these  rattleweeds, 
one  ha\dng  blue  flowers  often  was  called  "blue  loco,"  while 
the  other,  having  flowers  of  white,  pink,  or  bluish-purple 
color  as  each  individual  plant  preferred,  and  being  devoid 
of  a  main  stem,  was  termed  either  "stemless  loco,"  or,  ac- 
cording to  the  blossom's  color,  "blue  loco,"  "purple  loco," 
"white  loco,"  or  "pink  loco."  , 

The  ranchmen,  thus  undiscriminating  in  the  selection  of 
names,  made  their  botany  still  more  confusing  by  employ- 
ing the  grammatic  singular  number  instead  of  the  plural, 
and  thus  referring  to  the  collective  plants  not  as  weeds, 
but  as  weed. 

When  whatever  title  employed  included  either  the  word 
stemless  or  the  name  of  a  color,  the  term  weed  usually  was 
omitted  from  the  title.  Accordingly  one  would  speak  of  a 
particular  plant  as  "purple  loco"  or  as  "loco-weed,"  but 
not  as  "purple  loco- weed." 

These  weeds,  whatever  their  variety,  usually  contented 
themselves  with  imposing  upon  their  habitual  devourer  a 
death  from  starvation,  having  first  cruelly  thinned  their 
victim,  injured  its  eyesight,  its  muscular  control,  its  ner- 
vous system,  and  its  brain;  and  sardonically  having  deco- 
rated it,  if  a  horse,  with  an  abnormal  growth  of  the  hairs 


44  THE  COWBOY 

in  mane  and  tail,  or,  if  of  the  cattle  family,  with  an  equally 
unnatural  increase  in  the  hairs  upon  the  poor  beast^s  flanks. 

At  times  the  vile  weeds  modified  their  process  and  sent 
an  animal  upon  a  run  amuck. 

These  death-dealing  plants  injected  two  words  into  the 
dictionary,  the  words  ^ locoed"  and  '^ rattled,"  the  first  as 
a  synonym  for  crazy,  the  second  as  a  synonym  for  crazy 
or  excitedly  confused. 

The  employment  of  the  pistol  either  as  a  means  of  ad- 
monishing strangers'  feet  or  inviting  them  to  dance,  or 
else  as  an  instrument  for  snufling  barroom  lamps  occurred 
so  extremely  rarely  as  to  have  amounted  to  little  more 
than  the  foundation  for  amusing  legend,  but  it  has  become 
in  the  novel  one  of  the  cowboy's  diurnal  functions. 

Persistent  tradition  is  that,  save  on  the  Mexican  border 
and  in  most  infrequent  instances  at  drunken  frolics  else- 
where, every  stranger  with  whose  feet  this  hberty  was  taken 
was  either  a  tenderfoot  so  self-assertive  as  to  merit  some 
form  of  chastening  or  else  a  tenderfoot  who,  wholly  inno- 
cent of  this  offensive  quahty,  had  stepped  into  the  place 
just  vacated  by  a  seK-assertive  tenderfoot  and  so  been, 
by  an  impatient  audience,  adopted  as  a  proxy  for  the  latter 
or  his  type.  Assuredly  many  an  Easterner  touring  in  the 
West  has  at  times  allowed  his  suddenly  startled  interest 
to  upset  his  manners,  and  has  rubbed  fur  in  the  wrong 
direction.  Many  such  a  tourist,  diverted  by  the  cowboy's 
costume,  has  forgotten  that  within  it  was  a  human  being. 
By  many  a  tourist  such  punchers  as  he  came  across  were 
in  boorishness  as  blankly  stared  at  and  as  openly  discussed 
as  though  they  had  been  monkeys  in  a  cage. 

As  an  example  of  this  gaucherie  is  offered  the  following 
account  of  an  occurrence,  which,  though  containing  un- 
usually exasperating  factors,  makes  clear  illustration  of 
the  point. 

One  day,  in  1889,  there  squatted  in  a  circle  upon  the  sta- 


DEFINITIONS  AND  COWBOY  WAYS  45 

tion  platform  at  Pocatello  five  cowboys,  who,  bound  east- 
ward with  a  bunch  of  Uve  stock,  had  paused  for  a  bite  of 
luncheon.  Each  of  them  displayed  a  puncher^s  full  equip- 
ment, including  '^ chaps"  and  gun.  One  of  them,  their 
foreman,  Ed  Peters,  was  an  amazingly  fine  rider.  The 
other  men  were  almost  of  front  rank.  At  the  moment,  the 
five  punchers  were  doing  nothing  more  '^wild  and  woolly" 
than  to  eat  canned  peaches  out  of  five  cans,  to  include 
among  the  feasters  a  local,  very  wistful-looking  httle  girl, 
and  to  affect  great  interest  in  her  battered  dolly ^s  precocious- 
ness  as  prattlingly  alleged. 

There  rolled  from  the  southward  into  the  station  a  train 
for  ''American  Falls,  Nampa,  Baker  City,  The  Dalles, 
Portland,  and  intermediate  points.  Stops  here  twenty 
minutes,"  but  the  cowboys'  interest  was  absorbed  by 
peaches  and  the  owner  of  the  dolly.  From  one  of  the 
train's  Pullmans  alighted  two  young  and  comely  women, 
a  self-confident  cub  male,  and  a  stout,  elderly,  austere 
female. 

The  young  women  and  the  cub  male,  each  carrying  a 
camera  and  clicking  their  way  among  the  station's  populace 
of  disdainfully  inquisitive  townsfolk  and  seemingly  imper- 
turbable Indians,  came  upon  the  cowboys.  Click,  click, 
click,  this  for  a  dozen  times,  and  punctuated  with  "Aren't 
they  interesting !"  ''Right  out  of  a  book !"  "I  think  that 
one  over  there  is  the  most  picturesque."  The  punchers  did 
not  counter.  They  merely  writhed  and  grunted  and  les- 
sened their  talk  to  dolly.  Then  the  cub  male  authoritatively 
volunteered:  "You  men  move  into  a  straight  line.  The 
ladies  want  to  take  you  that  way."  Ed  Peters,  one  of  the 
quickest  shots  on  the  northern  Range,  quivered,  glanced 
at  the  cub  male,  serious-faced  in  his  position  of  general 
manager,  glanced  at  the  young  women,  serious-faced  in 
their  perpetration  of  a  nuisance,  grinned,  and  ordered: 
"Let's  git  in  line,  fellers." 


46  THE  COWBOY 

Quietly,  save  for  the  jingling  of  spurs  and  the  scraping 
of  feet,  the  men  moved  as  requested,  and  resignedly  were 
clicked  standing,  and  then  squatting. 

The  men  had  not  yet  risen  in  compliance  with  young 
cub's  next  dictum:  ''Say,  this  looks  too  peaceful.  You 
men  draw  your  guns  and  brandish  them,''  when  the  stout 
female  bustled  up  in  answer  to  ''Mother,  come  here.  We've 
found  five,  real,  Uve  cowboys."  Mother  looked,  sniffed, 
said,  "I'll  have  to  change  my  specs,"  looked  again  and  un- 
interestedly  observed:  "Humph.  Fancy.  They're  playing 
with  a  doll.  And  as  for  those  hairy  overalls,  they  suggest 
vermin." 

Ed  Peters  shot  out  sotto  voce  to  his  companions:  "My 
Gawd,  ten  minutes  more  of  this !  Not  on  your  life."  Then 
he  rose  to  his  full  height  of  six  feet  three,  doffed  his  wide- 
brimmed  hat  with  courtly  flourish,  and  commencing,  with 
honeyed  voice:  "Beg  pardon,  ma'am,  for  speakin',"  he 
continued,  with  a  howl  to  his  companions:  "Whoop,  play- 
ing with  a  doll  and  full  of  vermin !  They  wants  our  real 
selves.  Rise  up,  you  murderous  devils,  and  raise  immortal 
hell  for  the  ladies." 

The  audience  fled.  The  punchers  bowed  solemnly  to 
their  little  guest,  mounted,  and  rode  out  into  the  lava  beds. 
And,  as  they  started,  there  floated  back  Ed  Peters'  wail: 
"Oh,  why  didn't  that  old  one  wear  pants !  Why  didn't  it  I 
Oh,  if  it  had  been  a  man ! " 

To  the  tale-writer  and  not  to  the  historian  is  due  the 
generally  accepted  tradition  as  to  the  uncanny  speed  and 
deadly  accuracy  of  all  cowboys'  shooting.  The  fictionist, 
having  heavily  freighted  his  prot6g6  with  weapons,  requires 
him  to  transport  them  in  melodramatic  fashion  aind  to  dis- 
charge them  in  theatric  manner. 

Carriage  of  the  gun,  not  in  a  commonplace  holster  openly 
depending  from  a  loosely  hanging  belt,  but  in  a  holster 
which  was  either  swung  low  upon  the  front  thigh  and  con- 


DEFINITIONS  AND  COWBOY  WAYS  47 

nected  by  a  thong  with  the  boot-top  or  the  knee,  or  was 
hidden  and  harnessed  on  the  breast,  conduced  to  increased 
rapidity  of  fire.  So  did  keeping  the  gun  holsterless,  attach- 
ing it  at  the  end  of  a  strap,  and  conceaHng  it  beneath  the 
coat  sleeve.  So  did  firing  from  the  hip  and  through  the 
holster's  tip,  without  pausing  to  withdraw  the  pistol.  So 
did  filing  the  latter's  mechanism  in  such  a  way  as  to  pro- 
duce a  ^' hair-trigger."  So  did  completely  removing  the 
trigger  and  actuating  the  hammer  either  by  a  pull  of  the 
thumb  of  the  hand  holding  the  weapon,  or  else  by  a  brush- 
ing back  of  the  hammer  with  the  palm  or  side  of  the  other 
hand,  by  this  last  method  '^fanning"  it.  And  so  did  carry- 
ing two  guns,  either  each  openly  in  a  holster  and  hung  from 
the  belt,  one  on  each  side  of  the  body,  or  else  one  openly 
shown  in  its  holster  and  intended  as  a  mere  decoy  to  hold 
the  opponent's  attention,  the  other  concealed  and  suddenly 
*^ flashed"  when  conditions  demanded. 

These  variations  from  the  normal  were,  in  fact,  not  un- 
commonly employed  by  officers  of  the  law,  by  bandits,  all 
men  who  hunted  other  men,  and  were,  in  fact,  sometimes 
in  the  presence  of  tenderfoots  ostentatiously  availed  of  by 
a  tiresome,  innocuous  form  of  braggart,  the  ostensible  but 
pseudo  ^'bad  man."  But,  in  fact,  they  were  very  rarely 
made  use  of  by  the  cowboy.  The  latter  kept  his  soUtary 
weapon  at  his  side  (his  right  or  left  side,  according  as  he 
was  right-  or  left-handed),  butt  to  the  rear,  and  in  the  clearly 
visible  and  conamonplace  holster  above  mentioned;  and, 
when  he  wanted  to  shoot,  merely  pulled  out  the  pistol  and 
shot  it.  The  cowboy,  however,  did  take  pains  to  use  a 
holster,  which,  by  being  devoid  of  a  covering-flap  and  of 
all  protuberances,  offered  to  the  pistol  speedy  and  easy 
egress.  He  took  pains  also  to  see  that  none  of  his  clothing  I 
should  ever  intervene  between  his  hand  and  his  pistol's/ 
butt.  J 

He  did  not  touch  the  bolstered  weapon,  or  even,  in  the 


48  THE  COWBOY 

language  of  the  novels,  ^'feel  for  it,"  until  he  was  prepared 
to  explode  the  cartridge,  for  otherwise  an  absent-minded 
fingering  of  his  weapon  might  occur  at  an  inopportune  mo- 
ment, and  thus  give  to  an  armed  enemy  good  reason  for 
firing  the  first  shot.  Moreover,  the  pistol  was  an  instru- 
ment wherewith  to  shoot  and  not  wherewith  to  make  mere 
threats. 

Incidentally,  no  old-timer,  having  '* gotten  the  drop"  on 
a  man  and  wishing  to  disarm  him,  would  for  an  instant 
have  thought  of  asking  the  prisoner  to  do  what  some  mod- 
ern tale-writers  have  required  of  him,  to  ^'Hand  over  your 
gun,  and  do  it  butt  toward  me."  The  old-timer  knew  that 
butt  first  meant  a  finger  dangerously  near  the  trigger- 
guard,  that  a  finger  through  that  guard  and  a  quick  snap 
of  the  wrist  would  ''spin"  or  ''flip"  the  gun,  that  in  the 
fraction  of  a  second  its  muzzle  would  point  forward.  So 
the  old-timer  ordered  his  prisoner  merely  to  drop  the  latter' s 
weapon  and  to  back  away  from  the  spot  where  it  lay  on 
the  ground. 

The  cowboy  shot,  if  he  thought  it  necessary,  and  then 
without  hesitation.  When  he  shot,  he  shot  with  intent  to 
kill;  but  his  bullets  rarely  struck  another  man  save  for  the 
shooter's  self-protection,  in  the  support  of  Western  law,  or 
in  the  punishment  of  a  criminal  who  had  deserved  the  hang- 
man's rope.  The  cowboy  may  have  disliked  to  have  an- 
other person  "ride  him,"  or  "run  over"  him,  but  the  aver- 
age puncher  would  not  kill  for  the  mere  resultant  pique, 
or  in  defense  of  mere  personal  pride. 

However  prosaic  it  may  seem,  one  half  of  the  West  did 
not  spend  its  time  in  either  "getting  the  drop"  or  "pulling 
down"  on  the  other  half,  or  even  in  "looking  for  somebody." 
Nor  did  the  puncher  "notch"  his  pistol's  butt.  He  had 
no  kilHngs  thus  crudely  to  be  registered.  But  the  West 
was  far  from  having  mushy  softness.  Any  one  disposed  to 
tlrnk  differently  should  recall,  among  other  things,  that 


DEFINITIONS  AND  COWBOY  WAYS  49 

line  of  thirteen  human  bodies  dangHng  at  the  end  of  thirteen 
ropes  one  day  at  Virginia  City,  in  Montana. 

As  compared  with  men  the  country  over,  the  cowboy,  to 
state  a  truism,  was  no  better  or  worse  a  marksman  than 
innate  aptitude  and  the  extent  of  target  practice  warranted. 
Nevertheless  he  materially  advantaged  himself  by  disdain- 
ing the  short-barrelled,  top-heavy,  erratic  pistol  of  the 
townsman,  and  by  habitually  using  the  long-barrelled,  per- 
fectly balanced  Colt.  It  was  by  the  faultless  *'hang"  or 
balance  of  the  latter  weapon  that  the  puncher^s  shooting  rep- 
utation was  made.  The  weapon^s  balance  induced  both 
accuracy  and  speed,  for  it  relieved  the  shooter  from  the 
necessity  of  glancing  across  the  sights.  Aiming  a  Colt  was 
akin  to  pointing  a  forefinger. 

The  puncher  and  the  military  alone  used  this  type  of 
pistol;  but  the  mihtary,  chafing  under  compulsory  target 
practice  and  not  having  to  pay  for  the  ammunition  it  used, 
was  less  disposed  than  the  cowboy  to  consider  carefully 
each  shot  and  to  seek  diligently  for  accuracy  and  speed. 

As  to  practice  in  actual  firing,  the  puncher  necessarily 
had  infinitely  more  than  had  the  city  dweller;  but  the 
average  pimcher,  after  his  first  few  years,  gave  himself  no 
undue  amount,  since  he  was  wont  to  consider  that  he  hadj 
better  use  for  his  money  than  the  purchase  of  ammunition 
to  be  fired  through  a  *' noise  tool"  at  a  tree  or  can.  He, 
however,  kept  himself  in  form,  for,  when  alone,  he  frequently 
practised  quick  withdrawals  of  his  gun  and  imaginary  shots 
at  objects  beside  the  trail. 

All  these  factors  produced  men  who,  with  the  weapon  in 
question,  could  on  but  an  instant's  notice  fairly  pour  six 
shots  into  a  two-inch  circle  one  hundred  feet  away.  But 
very  far  from  all  punchers  could  shoot  as  well  as  this, 
though  few  of  them,  at  a  distance  of  one  hundred  feet, 
would  under  any  circumstances  miss  with  any  shot  a  tar- 
get as  large  as  a  standing  man. 


60  THE  COWBOY 

The  average  cowboy  was  a  relatively  better  shot  with  the 
pistol  than  with  the  rifle.  He  used  the  pistol  with  more 
frequency,  and  had  greater  interest  in  its  potentialities. 

The  cowboy^s  gun  had  plain  wood  in  its  stock.  The 
novelist  has  supplanted  it  with  carved  ivory  or  mother-of- 
pearl.  The  metal  of  the  cowboy's  gun  was  colored  black 
or  dark  blue.    The  novelist  has  nickel-plated  it. 

For  the  purpose  of  self-defense  the  gun  was  no  more 
potent  than  often  was  the  unflinching  eye  of  a  man  with  an 
established  reputation  for  steady  nerves  and  for  ability  to 
^^draw  quick  and  shoot  straight." 

Jim  Green  at  Wichita  Falls  learned,  one  day,  that  gathered 
in  a  saloon  were  several  armed  men  who  had  planned  to 
kill  him.  He  immediately  rode  to  the  saloon's  door,  en- 
tered it,  said  quietly  but  very  firmly  to  the  conspirators: 
^'Gentlemen,  I  understand  you  want  to  see  me  and  drink 
with  me."  Not  one  of  the  men  addressed  dared  *' reach 
for  his  gun,"  for  they  all  knew  Jim's  possibilities.  The 
round  of  drinks  was  accepted,  and  this  made  Jim  safe. 
Under  the  Western  code,  none  of  the  men  who  drank  with 
him  might  thereafter  kill  him  for  the  original  grievance. 
They,  if  still  courting  murder,  would  have  to  pick  a  new 
quarrel.  A  violation  of  this  provision  of  the  code  would 
have  made  the  violator  an  outlaw  and  a  subject  for  the 
ministrations  of  the  vigilance  committee.  Jim's  reputa- 
tion was  useful  to  him,  as  throughout  the  entire  transaction 
he  was  absolutely  unarmed. 

Vic  Smith,  idolized  in  Montana  and  Wyoming,  had  no 
fear  of  attack  by  man  or  devil,  for  his  marvellous  accuracy 
with  gun  and  rifle  was  known  throughout  the  Cattle  Coun- 
try. There  floated  from  nowhere  in  particular  and  into 
Charley  Scott's  saloon  at  Gardiner,  Montana,  a  long-haired 
and  quite  drunken  stranger,  who  presently  became  ob- 
noxious. The  instant  after  the  stranger  had  completed 
hi?  announcement  that,  as  soon  as  he  had  swallowed  his 


DEFINITIONS  AND  COWBOY  WAYS  51 

liquor,  he  intended  to  wipe  Gardiner  from  the  map,  the  door 
opened  and  a  head  stuck  in  with  a  cheery  '^Hulloa,  boys. 
Just  struck  town."    At  the  cordial  answering,   '^Hulloa, 

Vic  Smith,  you  old ,"  the  stranger  fairly 

howled  ''Vic  Smith.  My  God  !  Vic  Smith !"  and  jumped 
through  the  window;  at  which  Charley  Scott,  one  of  the 
finest  men  who  ever  ''tended  bar"  in  all  the  West,  lost  a 
thoroughly  worthless  customer  and  a  perfectly  good  window- 
sash. 

While  Jim  Green,  because  unarmed,  had  to  force  the 
issue,  more  than  one  man  of  Greenes  type  was,  if  armed, 
able  to  use  a  wholly  passive  method  in  peaceably  ridding 
himself  of  a  threatening  enemy.  This  passive  method  con- 
sisted of  seeming  to  ignore  the  enemy  when  met.  This 
ignoring  placed  the  enemy  in  a  ridiculous  position,  but 
could  safely  be  attempted  by  only  such  men  as  were  so 
lightning-like  in  movement  as  to  be  able  to  "draw"  and 
shoot  when  but  a  fraction  of  a  second  of  time  was  left  for 
them. 

From  time  to  time  some  ill-balanced  person,  deranged 
by  liquor  or  in  character,  would  affect  a  desire  to  kill  some 
specific  man;  and,  with  much  advertisement  of  intent, 
would  go  "looking  for"  him.  The  self-heralded  ostensible 
murderer  usually  was  seeking  for  notoriety  instead  of  for 
the  designated  victim,  but  nevertheless  would  openly  em- 
bark on  a  search  for  the  latter,  and  sometimes  would  un- 
expectedly come  face  to  face  with  him.  Under  such  cir- 
cumstances it  was  a  bit  wounding  to  one^s  pride  not  to 
have  the  fact  of  one's  presence  even  recognized,  not  to  be 
able  to  move  one's  hands  unless  one  courted  instant  and 
certain  death,  and,  at  the  same  time,  to  remember  all  the 
bold  and  bloodthirsty  announcements  one  had  made. 

These  affairs  were,  however,  pregnant  with  danger,  be- 
cause at  any  instant  the  tense  thread  might  snap,  and  the 
provoker  of  the  trouble  might  begin  wildly  to  shoot. 


62  THE  COWBOY 

A  melodramatic  coloring  was  given  many  episodes  of 
this  sort,  for  the  reason  that  the  irresponsible  trouble-maker 
was  not  unwont  to  make  his  ostensible  search  while  on  the 
back  of  a  horse,  and  to  ride  the  brute  into  saloons. 

Tazewell  Woody,  in  a  saloon,  was  standing  with  left 
elbow  on  the  bar,  right  hand  hanging  by  his  side,  and  eyes 
luckily  pointed  at  the  mirror  behind  the  bar.  He  caught 
in  the  mirror  the  reflection  of  a  head  poked  momentarily 
into  the  saloon's  doorway,  and  belonging  to  a  man  who 
had  publicly  stated  his  purpose  of  killing  Woody  at  sight. 
This  man,  having  apparently  thought  the  coast  to  be  clear, 
and  that  the  saloon  contained  a  sufficient  audience,  turned 
his  horse,  rode  through  the  doorway,  and  boldly  said: 
^^Has  any  gent  here  seen  that  feller  Woody?  I'm  huntin' 
for  him."  At  that  instant  the  man  realized,  for  the  first 
time,  that  Woody  was  in  the  room,  and  he  realized  also  that, 
though  he  himself  was  facing  Woody's  back,  the  mirror 
negatived  this  advantage.  He  saw  that  right  hand  hanging 
idly  down.  Woody  did  not  move  a  muscle.  The  man's 
jaw  dropped.  He  remained  quiescent  for  a  few  seconds, 
then  backed  out  through  the  doorway,  and  on  his  own  ini- 
tiative rode  out  of  the  State. 

These  preannounced  attempts  on  human  life  were  far 
less  bloody  than  were  the  onslaughts  by  the  real  '^killers," 
the  actual  ^^bad  men."  These  latter  men  did  not  an- 
nounce. They  merely  shot.  Billy  the  Kid,  at  twenty- 
three  years  of  age,  had  committed  twenty-three  murders, 
and  had  made  the  question  of  his  extermination  a  poHtical 
issue  in  New  Mexico.  Incidentally,  the  sheriff,  elected  to 
''get"  him,  loaded  a  weapon  and  ''got"  him. 

In  the  eighties  some  "rustlers"  "holed  up"  in  a  cabin 
at  the  outlet  of  Jackson  Lake  in  Wyoming.  Range  detec- 
tives surrounded  them.  One  of  the  "rustlers,"  a  won- 
drously  accurate  shooter,  seeking  to  escape,  rushed  from 
the  cabin's  door,  and,  without  warning,  began  to  fire.    At 


DEFINITIONS  AND  COWBOY  WAYS  53 

each  shot  he  ''crossed'^  his  rifle,  that  is  he  fired  alternately 
from  his  right  and  left  shoulder,  thus  increasing  the  width 
of  his  zone  of  fire  without  making  him  rotate  his  body,  and 
thereby  unduly  affect  his  running.  He  hit  five  men  be- 
fore he  dropped  dead  at  the  end  of  his  race  of  but  a  few 
feet. 

Riding  horses  into  saloons  did  not  always  signify 
''trouble."  Frequently  it  meant  either  good-natured 
drunkenness,  or  else  non-alcohohc  prankishness.  The  much- 
suffering  cow-pony  has  been  ridden  in  places  stranger 
than  saloons,  for  he  has  been  made  to  climb  stairs, 
traverse  railway  trestles,  and  travel  other  equally  distaste- 
ful routes. 

Pseudo  ''bad  men"  of  the  "I  eat  humans  for  breakfast" 
kind  functioned  in  the  presence  of  tenderfoots  by  fierce 
looks  and  snorts,  by  savage  remarks,  and  sometimes  by 
the  recital  of  speeches  ferocious  in  phrase  and  coromitted 
to  memory.  These  men  would  "wild  up"  whenever  they 
obtained  an  impressionable  audience,  and  their  braggadocio 
often  was  picturesque,  even  though  made  up  at  least  in 
part  from  strings  of  stereotjrped  Western  anecdotes.     Old, 

harmless  Jim ,  when  in  his  cups,  would  fervently  relate: 

"I^m  the  toughest,  wildest  killer  in  the  West.  When  I'm 
hungry  I  bites  off  the  noses  of  living  grizzly  bars.  I  live 
in  a  box  canyon,  where  everybody  is  wild,  and  shoots  so 
much  they  fills  the  ar  plumb  full  of  lead,  so  there  ain't  no 
ar  to  br  athe.  The  further  up  the  canyon  you  goes,  the 
wilder  the  people  gits,  and  I  live  at  the  very  top  end. 
Whoop!"  If  tenderfoots  continued  their  presence,  Jim 
would  persist  in  this  strain;  and  perhaps,  because  of  him,  a 
diary  or  two  would  receive  the  entry:  "Saw  to-day  a  real 
Western  'bad  man.'  He  carried  two  large  revolvers  in  hol- 
sters which  hung,  one  just  above  each  knee.  This  marks 
him  as  being  what  is  called  a  'two-gun  man,'  and  a  person 
who  'totes  his  weepens  low.'"     If  only  Westerners  were 


64  THE  COWBOY 

auditors,  Jim  soon  would  quit  his  oratory,  go  to  sleep,  and 
snore  himself  to  peaceability. 

Bill ,  when  alcoholically  beset,  would  announce:  ''I 

live  in  Jack  County,  Texas.  Thars  whar  the  human  man- 
eaters  come  from,  and  I'm  one  on  'em.  Every  pusson  they 
don't  take  no  fancy  to  is  drug  out  and  scalped  alive.  My 
hum  range  is  so  plumb  full  of  murder  and  sin  that  hell 
won't  be  no  treat  to  me."  He,  too,  presently  would  cease 
his  clatter,  and  would  slumber  back  to  sobriety. 

This  Jim ,  this  Bill ,  and  the  other  men  of  their 

type  had  no  wish  to  'Hry  it  out"  with  any  *^real  Westerner," 
for  it  was  a  foregone  conclusion  as  to  which  side  in  such  a 
contest  would  '  Veaken,"  ''back  down,"  and  ''pull  out." 

The  actual  "bad  man"  was  "short  on  conversation." 
He  spoke  infrequently,  and  when  he  opened  his  mouth  what 
he  said  was  to  the  point.  He  usually  talked  in  quiet  tones, 
for  his  nerves  always  were  well  in  hand.  His  nerves  had 
to  be  thus  in  order  for  him  to  do  the  jobs  which  he  essayed. 

All  actual  "bad  men"  were  wholly  untrustworthy,  were 
natural  killers,  moral  and  mental  degenerates,  inhuman 
brutes  who  would  slay  for  personal  gain  or  merely  to  gratify 
a  whim.  All  of  them  were  among  the  horse  thieves  and 
train  robbers,  the  "hold-up  men"  and  "road  agents,"  but 
far  from  all  the  followers  of  these  vocations  were  low-browed 
criminals  or  "bad  men."  Though  most  of  the  persons  in 
these  callings  might  kill  when  "on  duty"  and  performing 
the  functions  of  their  crafts,  many  of  them  when  "off  duty" 
were  very  human,  warm-hearted  and  companionable  beings, 
normal  in  everything  except  moral  attitude  toward  horses, 
cattle,  pubUc  vehicles,  and  bank  safes. 

Wyoming's  Hole-in-the-Wall  Gang  might  plunder  the 
Overland  Limited,  but  it  more  than  once  succored  a  soli- 
tary traveller  who  was  in  trouble  upon  the  trail.  It  rarely 
robbed  either  the  men  it  Hked  or  any  one  in  deep  distress. 
Personal  popularity  and  dire  suffering  each  tended  to  in- 


DEFINITIONS  AND  COWBOY  WAYS  55 

sure  immunity  in  the  Cattle  Country:  and  this  not  only  to 
spare  the  innocent  from  being  robbed,  but  also  to  keep  the 
guilty  out  of  jail.  ^-^ 

The  actual  ^'bad  man"  was  a  feature  of  the  towns  rather 
than  of  the  Range,  for  he  preyed  mostly  upon  the  gold  and 
silver  that,  starting  from  the  mines,  had  been  intrusted  to 
a  lumbering  stage,  or  to  an  express  car  upon  the  railway. 

But,  all  in  all,  there  were  very  few  of  the  actual  ^'bad 
men."  The  West  did  not  like  them.  They  ran  counter 
to  the  actuating  Western  motive,  which  was  fair  play  or 
justice,  as  the  West  conceived  it.  Consequently,  each 
^'bad  man"  sooner  or  later  would  '^go  out  of  the  territory 
for  his  health  or  to  hell  on  a  shutter."  If  he  '^ passed  out," 
it  would  be  either  on  the  end  of  a  rope  or  before  a  bullet. 
His  demise  was  sometimes  referred  to  as  his  '^  snuffing  out," 
'^bucking  out,"  '^croaking,"  '' cashing  in,"  or  *' passing  in  his 
checks." 

One  should  not  include  in  the  class  of  ''bad  man"  such 
cowboys  as,  from  time  to  time,  rented  out  their  services  to 
factions  that  were  engaged  in  local  civil  wars.  In  the  fac- 
tional fights  which  occurred  in  Texas,  New  Mexico,  and 
Wyoming,  cowboys  served  for  pay  upon  the  side  of  each 
belligerent.  But  these  punchers  were  not  ''bad  men." 
They  were  not  at  war  with  civilization.  They  merely  were 
fighting  certain  people  whom  for  the  moment  they  mistak- 
enly, honestly  believed  to  be  real  enemies.  The  spirit  of 
youth,  the  love  of  adventure,  the  trusting  adherence  to  an 
individual  leader  blinded  such  a  puncher  from  realization 
that  he  was  leasing  himself  to  the  mere  cause  of  kilUng  men. 

The  pistol  had  one  use  to  which  the  average  cowboy 
would,  from  time  to  time,  enthusiastically  devote  it,  and 
that  was  the  production  of  noise.  WHien  put  to  this  use 
the  weapon  was  fired  either  directly  upward  into  the  air 
or  slantingly  downward  at  the  ground,  for  the  West  had  no 
blank  cartridges.     On  such  occasions  the  pistol's  efforts 


56  THE  COWBOY 

would  be  supplemented  by  Indianlike  screeches  and  coyote- 
like howls. 

Sometimes  liquor  would  start  this  pandemonium.  Some- 
times suddenly  received  pleasure  would  do  it.  Often  and 
particularly  when  the  puncher  was  in  company  with  others 
of  his  kind,  the  motive  was  that  indefinable,  contagious 
something  that  runs  Hke  wild-fire  through  any  American 
crowd  of  men  or  boys,  and  makes  the  gathering  give  a  cheer 
or  whoop. 

One  autumn  morning  at  the  Glendive  railway  station, 
seven  cowboys  were  sitting  on  their  sleepy  horses  and  idly 
watching  the  passengers  ahghted  from  a  delayed  east-bound 
train.  Among  these  passengers  was  a  college  under- 
graduate, sunny-faced,  attractive-looking,  of  the  type  that 
everywhere  makes  friends.  He  inquired  unsuccessfully  of 
the  telegraph  operator  as  to  the  result  of  ^Hhe  big  football 
game,"  played  the  previous  day,  and  then  began  to  pace 
up  and  down  the  platform.  Presently  the  west-bound  train 
arrived,  and  from  it  an  older  man  called  to  the  under- 
graduate: ^'HuUoa,  Jim .    Congratulations.    You  beat 

us  yesterday,  ten  to  nothing."  The  undergraduate  emitted 
an  impulsive  cry  of  joy,  and  danced  down  the  platform. 
He  suddenly  stopped,  for  bedlam  had  begun.  Seven  cow- 
boys were  yelling  and  shooting  from  the  backs  of  horses 
that,  no  longer  sleepy,  were  plunging,  snorting,  and  rush- 
ing about. 

The  undergraduate's  train  started.  He  climbed  aboard 
it.  The  punchers  and  their  horses  relapsed  into  quietude. 
A  woman  from  the  still  halted  west-bound  train  asked  the 
cowboys  what  they  had  been  celebrating,  and  received  the 
respectful  and  truthful  answer:  ''We  don't  know,  ma'am. 
A  nice-lookin'  young  feller  that  was  on  the  other  train 
heard  somethin'  that  pleased  him,  and  took  a  contract  to 
deliver  a  lot  of  noise.  He  didn't  have  much  time,  so  us 
boys  tried  to  help  him  out." 


DEFINITIONS  AND  COWBOY  WAYS  57 

Of  course  what  actually  had  happened  was  that  the  spirit 
of  unaffected  youth  had  appealed  to  its  twin,  and  its  voice 
had  been  recognized. 

The  rifle  never  was  carried  except  when  there  existed  , 
one  of  the  serious  conditions  already  mentioned  as  produc-  \ 
ing  the  pistol's  appearance,  or  there  was  big  game  to  be  \ 
shot.    The  rifle,  when  carried,  was  conveyed,  not  by  the  j' 
cowboy  himself  but  by  his  horse,  which  bore  it  in  a  quiver-  ' 
shaped,  open-mouthed  scabbard,  into  which  the  rifle  went 
up  to  its  stock.     This  scabbard  sometimes  hung  from  the 
saddle  horn,  but  more  commonly  was  slung,  butt  forward, 
in  an  approximately  horizontal  position  along  the  near  side 
of  the  animal,  and  passed  between  the  two  leaves  of  the 
stirrup-leather.    The  rifle  was  thus  eschewed,  because,  being 
heavy,  it  interfered  with  ready  saddUng  and  unsaddling; 
and,  being  bulky,  it  materially  detracted  from  the  rider's 
comfort. 

After  the  early  seventies  the  rifle,  regardless  of  its  make, 
was  usually  called  a  '^Winchester,"  though  this  particular 
term,  because  of  its  similarity  to  the  name  of  a  well-known 
condiment,  was  occasionally  paraphrased  into  '^  Worcester- 
shire." Failing  these  titles,  the  weapon  was  styled  merely 
''rifle."  It,  except  in  the  case  of  the  rifles  specially  de- 
signed for  bison-shooting  and  called  "buffalo  guns,"  never 
was  termed  "gun,"  that  word,  save  for  the  single  exception 
noted,  being  consecrated  to  the  pistol. 

"Scatter-guns,"  otherwise  shotguns,  were  occasionally 
produced  by  tenderfoots;  but  they,  unless  with  "sawed-off  " 
barrels,  loaded  with  nails  or  buckshot,  and  in  the  hands 
of  express  messengers,  served  for  the  Westerner  only  as 
objects  of  derision. 

The  rifle,  rarely  the  pistol,  was  at  times  discharged  at 
wild  horses,  at  unbroken  members  of  the  ranch  herd,  or 
at  erring,  already-gentled  steeds,  in  any  case  for  the  pur- 
pose of  "creasing"  them.    Such  shooting  actually  did  oc- 


58  THE  COWBOY 

cur,  but  it  was  extremely  infrequent.  Its  dramatic  phase 
gave  it  such  publicity  as  to  earn  for  it  what  it  did  not  at  all 
deserve,  an  ostensible  place  among  the  customs  of  the 
Range. 

Creasing,  successfully  accomplished,  meant  shooting 
through  the  neck  of  a  horse  in  such  a  way  as  to  touch  but 
not  injure  the  cartilage  above  the  bones.  Thus  done,  it 
would  temporarily  and  completely  stun  the  animal,  but 
would  do  him  no  serious  injury.  Creasing,  as  usually  at- 
tempted, resulted  in  entirely  missing  the  animal,  or  in  kill- 
ing him. 

It  was  legitimately  tried  and  sometimes  achieved  by 
men  who,  dismounted  in  a  waterless  country,  saw  their 
truant  steeds  already  out  of  reach,  sneakingly  abandoning 
their  riders  to  death  from  thirst.  It  was,  on  occasion, 
illegitimately  attempted  by  ^'rough-riding  bronco-busters," 
when  cruel  bravado  had  sufficient  foundation  of  either 
temper  or  whiskey. 

But  Westerners  in  general  had  no  stomach  for  unneces- 
sary creasing. 

The  subject  of  creasing  wild  horses  suggests  that  of  an 
unique  vocation,  'talking  down"  these  animals.  Although 
wild  horses  for  many  years,  and  in  great  numbers,  had  been 
caught  by  the  lariat,  some  of  these  beasts,  through  unusual 
speed  or  conspicuous  cunning,  had  been  able  wholly  to  evade 
capture. 

r  They  eluded  even  the  '^mustangers,"  as  the  men  were 
called  who  devoted  themselves  to  the  trade  of  raiding  the 
;''wild"  bands  and  selling  their  captures  to  the  ranchers. 
\  As  the  wild  horses  became  fewer  in  number  these  elusive 
survivors  stood  out  in  bolder  contrast  with  the  domestic 
herd,  and  more  and  more  awakened  human  cupidity.  An 
imperious  stallion,  heading  an  obeisant  harem,  outrunning 
all  pursuers,  circumventing  all  cunningly  planned  fence 
traps,  haughtily  would  defy  capture  and  proudly  would 


DEFINITIONS  AND  COWBOY  WAYS  59 

flaunt  the  ranchers  of  an  entire  range.  Although,  true  to 
the  habit  of  all  Range  horses  and  cattle,  he  would  cling  to 
a  restricted  area,  twenty  or  thirty  miles  along  each  boundary, 
he  never  could  be  cornered. 

There  eventually  was  developed  among  the  mustangers  a 
class  of  men  who,  by  native  instinct  and  constant  study, 
understood  the  thought  and  habits  of  the  wild  horse. 
These  men,  usually  queer,  cantankerous  characters,  making 
their  pursuit  ordinarily  on  horseback  but  sometimes  on^ 
foot,  operating  from  a  strategically  located  camp,  and  work-  ■ 
ing  in  successive  squads,  strung  themselves  along  the  course 
customarily  followed  by  their  prey.  They  endeavored 
never  to  scare  the  quarry  into  any  desire  to  run  long  dis- 
tances; but,  hour  after  hour,  whether  in  daytime  or  at  night, 
they  methodically,  unremittingly,  pitilessly  denied  the  har- 
ried animal  a  moment's  opportunity  for  rest,  and  sooner  or 
later  it  became  so  desperately  tired  as  to  withhold  all  at- 
tempt to  avoid  a  thrown  reata.  These  men  actually  walked 
down  the  horse,  an  effort  usually  of  hours  only,  though  occa- 
sionally of  two  or  three  days.  Many  of  the  animals  thus 
caught  were  superb  beasts,  aristocrats  in  blood,  for  all  their 
ancestors  had  mated  wisely  and  had  refused  degenerate 
brutes  admission  to  the  family  tree. 

These  elusive  wild  horses  were  undesirable  neighbors, 
because  they  displayed  a  habit  of  enticing  ranch  horses, 
particularly  mares,  away  from  their  accustomed  range, 
away  from  all  wiUingness  to  be  subject  to  man's  dictation, 
and  of  '^running  them  off"  beyond  the  edges  of  the  local  map. 

The  wild  horses'  itinerant  drove,  their  ^'manada,"  as  the 
Southwest  correctly  spelled  it,  ^^menatha,"  as  the  South- 
west incorrectly  pronounced  it,  their  ''band,"  as  the  North- 
west termed  it,  was  not  a  convenient  keeper  of  one's  do- 
mestic animals. 

Although  the  man  on  the  Range  regarded  generically 
the  horses  of  the  ranch  herd,  assigned  no  names  to  any  of 


60  THE  COWBOY 

the  ordinary  steeds,  was  not  particularly  interested  in  his 
companions'  animals,  however  i&ne  they  were,  he  had  a  very 
different  attitude  toward  the  highly  trained  ponies  that  he 
personally,  habitually  rode.  He  adopted  them  into  his 
family,  and  they  took  him  into  theirs. 

Nevertheless  he  at  times  might  enthusiastically  quirt 
them,  and  assuredly  they  frequently  deserved  the  treatment. 

The  expressions  of  his  affection  might  be  intermittent  and 
be  made  in  rough  words  or  rude  pats,  but  they  were  sincere. 

The  riders,  in  their  solitary  excursions,  talked  continu- 
ously to  their  mounts.  When  Al  Smith,  a  'Hop  rider"  of 
the  M-K  Ranch,  fell  in  love  with  the  schoolma'am  at  Buf- 
falo Fork,  he  told  the  whole  story  to  a  sympathetic  httle 
four-footed  buckskin  brother,  as  they  came  back  together 
across  the  prairie.  However  close-mouthed  a  man  might 
be  with  all  his  fellow  men,  he  imparted  all  his  secrets  to  his 
horse. 

This  intimacy,  which  came  from  loneliness,  showed  no 
sentimental  weakness,  for  one  of  these  very  men  who  prat- 
tled into  a  pointed  hairy  ear  carried  in  his  body  eight  bul- 
lets from  three  separate  fights. 

Short  names  like  Jim  and  Buck,  supplanted  for  such 
animals  the  mere  descriptions  accorded  other  horses,  de- 
scriptions such  as  ''Jack  Tansy's  star-faced  buckskin," 
"that  mealy  nosed,  blue  roan  from  the  Star  M  Outfit," 
"that  wall-eyed,  white  cayuse  with  the  K  Bar  brand." 

All  this  almost  humanized  some  of  the  ponies.  Reader, 
if  you  love  horses,  thaw  out  some  old-timer  of  the  Cattle 
Country,  and  ask  him  to  tell  you  of  Pete  and  Imp  and  Scoot 
and  Prunes,  and  other  horses  that  he  knew.  He  will  begin 
his  narrative.  Presently  his  face  will  overspread  with  a 
reminiscent,  loving  smile;  he  will  say:  "But,  of  all  the  horses 
I  ever  ran  across,  I  knew  one  once  that  was  all  horse.  Make 
no  mistake  about  that.  He  was  a  little  'California  sorrel,' 
and  his  name  was  Mike,"  and  then  you  will  hear  a  story 
such  as,  though  truthful,  no  writer  dares  to  put  in  print, 


DEFINITIONS  AND  COWBOY  WAYS  61 

lest  the  public  brand  him  as  a  liar.  You  will  be  told  of 
a  saucy  little  devil  which  suppressed  its  impudence,  and 
grittily  struggled  on  through  snow  or  desert,  to  kill  itself 
from  effort,  but  to  land  its  wounded  rider  in  safety;  or  you 
will  learn  of  a  little  brute  which  came  galloping  to  the  house 
with  a  blood-soaked  saddle  hanging  from  its  side,  which 
impatiently  nipped  the  shoulders  of  the  ranchmen  that  they 
might  hurry  more  in  sending  out  relief,  and  which,  all 
through  the  progress  of  the  expedition,  led  it  and  urged  it  on. 
All  horses  were  not  of  this  caliber,  but  some  were;  and 
that  some  were  is  why,  in  little  corners  of  the  West,  under 
spreading  yellow  pines,  or  amid  the  pinons,  or  at  the  points 
of  aspen  groves,  not  with  extreme  infrequency,  appeared 
boards,  or  else  slabs  of  slate,  either  of  them  rudely  inscribed 
by  heated  iron  or  by  scratching  metal  point.  Their  legends 
varied  with  the  stories  they  had  to  tell,  often  were  illiter- 
ately phrased,  but  occasionally  disclosed  assistance  by  some 
scholar  among  the  regretful  cowboy's  friends.  Three  of 
them  read  respectively  as  follows: 

JIM 

a  reel  hors 
Oct  1,  82 

HERE  LIES 

"FM  HERE" 

The  Very  Best  of  Cow  Ponies, 
A  Gallant,  Little  Gentleman. 
Died  on  this  Spot,  Sept.  3,  1890. 

HERE  LIES 

"WHAT  NEXT^' 

Born , ,  1886,  at , 

Died  July  16,  1892,  near  Ft.  Washakie,  Wyo. 
He  had  the  Body  of  a  Horse, 
The  Spirit  of  a  Knight,  and 
The  Devotion  of  the  Man 
who  Erected  this  Stone. 


62  THE  COWBOY 

Of  the  names  commonly  used,  one  alone  conveyed  instant 
information.  That  name  was  Buck,  for  every  buckskin- 
colored  horse  throughout  the  West  was  christened  Buck. 
The  bearing  of  this  appellation  did  not  in  any  way  imply 
that  the  animal  that  bore  it  had  been  concerned  at 
any  time  with  the  bucking  motion.  It  related  wholly  to 
color. 

The  broncos  ran  the  gamut  of  the  coloration  employed 
by  Eastern  horses,  but  in  comparison  rather  stressed  cer- 
tain shades.  Bays,  browns,  sorrels,  grays  (whether  these 
last  were  plain,  dappled,  or  '^flea-bitten"),  whites,  blacks, 
buckskins,  roans,  and  piebalds  were  the  color  schemes.  The 
last  three  were  noticeable,  because  buckskins,  roans,  and 
piebalds  were  more  common  in  the  West  than  in  the  East. 
Roans  were,  in  tint,  red  (called  strawberry  roan),  blue,  or 
occasionally  even  distinctly  purple.  The  piebald  was  the 
same  in  coloration  as  is  the  '' calico  horse"  of  the  East,  and, 
deriving  his  name  from  a  Spanish  word  meaning  paint,  was 
termed  generally  a  ''pinto,"  but  in  parts  of  Texas  was  called 
in  good  plain  English  a  "paint  horse." 

Southern  California  had  a  local  type,  the  "California 
sorrel,"  its  body  in  a  lustrous,  solid,  Hght  sorrel  monotone, 
its  mane  and  tail  in  lighter  sorrel,  almost  cream-colored, 
and  its  feet  white-stockinged.  It  was  a  beautiful  animal, 
but,  being  of  limited  numbers,  very  few  specimens  of  it  came 
onto  the  Range.     It  was  a  product  of  local  conditions. 

When  the  wild  horses  started  northward  from  Old  Mexico, 
some  of  them  followed  one  route,  others  a  second.  Most 
of  them  travelled  on  the  easterly  side  of  the  coastal  moun- 
tain range,  and  inhabiting,  generation  after  generation,  a 
sparsely  watered  country,  developed  that  itinerant,  wiry, 
sinewy,  athletic  little  imp,  the  bronco  of  the  plains.  Others 
of  them  moved  along  the  well-watered,  seacoast  lands  west- 
ward of  that  mountain  range,  and  evolved  a  type  which, 
because  less  inured  to  thirst  and  hunger,  eventually  became 


DEFINITIONS  AND  COWBOY  WAYS  63 

somewhat  heavier  in  build  and  a  bit  more  muscularly  soft. 
To  this  latter  type  belonged  the  original  cayuses  of  early 
Oregon.  From  these  Oregon  horses  men  of  the  far  North- 
west derived  their  initial  bands;  and  from  Oregon  came  the 
horses'  name,  ^'cayuse."  That  State  was  the  home  of  the 
Cayuse  tribe  of  Indians,  an  equestrian  people. 

These  coastal  horses  often  divided  themselves  into  groups 
which  severally  clung,  for  generations,  to  various  well- 
favored  sections  of  the  country;  and,  by  close  inbreeding, 
produced  in  each  group  distinguishing  pecuharities.  Thus 
may  have  come  the  California  sorrel. 

Universally,  when  by  reason  of  illness  or  injury  a  horse 
had  to  be  destroyed,  it  was  killed  by  a  shot  carefully  placed 
at  the  base  of  the  ear. 

But  in  the  performance  of  this  rough  act  of  mercy  to  a 
suffering  cow-pony,  its  rider  almost  always  chokingly  begged 
a  companion,  if  one  there  were,  to  pull  the  trigger. 

The  rifle  had  an  occasional  function  dear  to  the  writer  of 
thrillers,  the  firing  of  distress  signals,  three  shots  evenly 
spaced  as  to  time.  Inviolable  custom  demanded  that  who- 
ever heard  this  signal  forthwith  hurry  to  its  source.  So  in- 
sistent was  this  demand  that,  upon  the  sound  of  any  shot, 
all  persons  within  hearing  gave  most  concentrated  atten- 
tion that  the  later  sounds,  if  any,  and  the  pauses  between 
them  might  not  be  unnoticed.  Woe  betide  the  careless 
hunter  who,  in  bringing  down  a  deer,  unwittingly  gave  this 
alarm.  This  system  of  signalling  has  been  called  errone- 
ously a  Western  invention.  In  reality,  it  dates  in  American 
usage  from  the  early  colonial  period,  and  was  prescribed  by 
one  of  the  initial  laws  of  the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony. 

Some  cowboys,  in  copy  of  the  Indians,  used,  in  signalling, 
smoke  released  in  short  puffs  and  long  streamers  by  in- 
termittently raising  and  lowering  the  corner  of  a  blanket 
which  had  been  laid  above  a  smudging  fire.  This  gave  in 
effect  the  dots  and  dashes  of  the  telegraph.    Few  of  the 


64  THE  COWBOY 

men  attempted  an  alphabetical  code,  and  most  of  the  mes- 
sages were  simply  prearranged,  arbitrary  signals. 

The  last  weapons  to  mention  are  the  knife  and  the  lariat. 

After  the  earlier  Indian  fighting  had  ceased,  long  knives 

/  never  were  carried  by  cowpunchers  unless  they  were  hunt- 

'  ing  big  game,  or  were  Mexican  in  blood  or  spirit.    A  stout 

pocket  jack-knife,  or  clasp-knife,  contented  the  majority  of 

men. 

The  long  knife  in  the  hands  of  a  competent  user  was, 
within  a  range  of  thirty  feet,  the  deadliest  weapon  of  the 
West,  for  pulled  and  thrown  it  usually  would  reach  its  goal 
before  the  opponent's  pistol  could  be  drawn  and  shot,  and 
this  though  the  thrower  and  shooter  simultaneously  started 
to  act.  In  a  hand-to-hand  fight  the  knife  was  driven  by  an 
underhand  thrust,  edge  up,  into  the  abdomen,  and  was 
terrible  in  its  effect.  As  was  said  at  Santa  F^  by  Sam,  by 
just  Sam,  for  so  far  as  appeared  he  had  no  more  extensive 
name,  ''The  knife  is  a  plumb  ungentlemanly  weepen,  and 
it  shore  leaves  a  mussy  looking  corpse.'' 

The  lariat,  when  quiescent,  may  have  appeared  hke  a 
mere  section  of  every-day  rope,  but  it  had  latent  capability 
of  deadliness.  Such  persons  as  do  not  already  know  its 
possibilities  may  come  to  an  awesome  regard  for  that  bit 
of  line  when  once  they  see  it  whirling. 


CHAPTER  IV 

COWBOY  CHARACTER 

NECESSARY  COURAGE — BODILY  INJURIES — UNCOMPLAININGNESS — CHEER- 
FULNESS— RESERVE  TOWARD  STRANGERS — ITS  CAUSE — CUSTOMS  WHEN 
MEETING  PEOPLE,  AND  WHEN  ENTERING  A  CAMP — PERSONAL  NAMES — 
ETIQUETTE  OF  GUN  AND  HAT — INTROI^UCTIONS — CURBING  CURIOSITY — 
ATTITUDE  TOWARD  WOMEN — ILLNESS  AND  MEDICAL  TREATMENT — SEN- 
TENTIOUSNESS — DEFINITIONS — QUIZZICALITY — SLANG — PROFANITY  —  DEFI- 
NITIONS— RELIGIOUS  ATTITUDE — POWER  OF  OBSERVATION — CHARACTER- 
ISTIC POSE — USE  OF  TOBACCO — BOWED  LEGS — DEGREE  OF  HONESTY — 
ESTIMATE  OF  EASTERNERS — ^INTELLECTUAL  INTERESTS  AND  SCOPE — SENSB 
OF  DIGNITY — ^VANITY 

Universality  of  courage  was  an  earmark  of  the  cow- 
boys' trade.  Bravery  was  a  prerequisite  both  to  entering 
and  to  pursuing  the  vocation. 

When  a  man  suddenly  ^'lost  his  riding  nerve,"  as  he  oc- 
casionally did  from  his  own  serious  illness  or  from  witness- 
ing distressing  accident  to  a  loved  companion,  an  accident 
such  as  plastered  Bud  Thompson's  face  with  his  brother's 
brains,  he  sometimes  lost  it  forever,  and  with  it  his  calling. 
Unless  unhorsed  by  this  infrequent  cause,  he  rode  until  he 
received  injury  that  promised  permanence,  or  he  sooner 
voluntarily  retired. 

Physical  injury,  ordinarily  the  gift  of  bucking,  and  in  the 
form  of  hernia,  allowed  to  the  average  man  but  seven  years 
of  active  riding.  Once  dropped  from  the  centaurs,  whether 
through  injury  or,  much  rarer,  loss  of  riding  nerve,  he  still 
lived  on  horseback,  but  regretfully,  humiliatingly  refrained 
from  ''hair-pinning"  or  ''forking"  at  sight  "anything  on 
four  hoofs,"  and  restricted  himseK  to  such  animals  as  sup- 
posedly were  not  vicious. 

65 


66  THE  COWBOY 

Courage  was  needed  elsewhere  than  on  the  bucker^s  back 
or  amid  the  cattle.  The  cowboy  by  the  nature  of  his  work 
was  required,  from  time  to  time,  to  endure  the  pitiless 
Northern  bhzzard,  to  traverse  the  equally  pitiless  Southern 
desert,  to  fight  the  bandit  or  the  Indian,  to  go  ahorse  upon 
the  mountain's  cHffs  or  amid  the  river's  whirlpools,  to  ride 
madly  over  ground  pitted  by  the  gopher  and  the  badger,  to 
face  death  often,  and  much  of  the  time  when  alone. 

Some  wise  old  Westerner  defined  a  cowboy  as  *'a  man  with 
guts  and  a  horse." 
I  The  puncher  rarely  complained.  He  associated  com- 
plaints with  quitting,  and  he  was  no  quitter.  Custom,  how- 
ever, allowed  guarded  criticisms  of  the  cook,  though  these 
strictures  were  made  with  an  amusing  risk.  Whoever 
ragged  the  cook  was  subject  to  be  impressed  by  him  for 
twenty-four  hours  as  an  assistant  or  a  complete  substitute. 
Out  of  this  grew  the  story  of  the  cowboy  who,  by  diplomacy, 
saved  his  initial  blatancy,  for  he  is  reported  to  have  said: 
''This  bread  is  all  burned,  but  gosh!  that's  the  way  I  hke 
it!" 

There  often  was  ground  for  adverse  comments  on  the 
cuisine.  The  average  ranch  cook  well  might  have  been 
defined  as  a  man  who  had  a  fire;  and  who  drew  the  same 
wages  that  he  would  have  earned  if  he  had  known  how  to 
cook.  He  ordinarily  had  been  a  cowboy,  and  in  many  in- 
stances his  ideas  of  culinary  art  had  originated,  seemingly, 
from  atop  a  bucking  horse.  A  very  few  establishments  had 
a  Chinaman  in  the  kitchen,  but  such  an  attempt  at  luxuri- 
ous hving  was  not  typical  of  the  Cattle  Country. 

Maintenance  of  cheerfulness  was  part  of  the  philosophy 
of  the  Range.  The  Western  lands  were  not  smiling  ones. 
Nature  in  the  West  offered  great  riches  to  whoever  had  the 
courage  to  come  and  take  them,  but  she  was  austere  and 
majestic,  rarely  gentle.  The  desert,  the  mountains,  the 
canyons,  the  quicksands,  and  the  bUzzard  asked  no  favors 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  67 

and  gave  no  quarter.  Each  Western  man  was  forced  to 
hear  so  constantly  the  roars  of  the  nature  which  he  re- 
garded with  deep,  respectful  admiration,  that  he  had  no 
wish  to  listen  to  whimpers  from  mere  humans  like  himself. 

Andy  Downs,  imparting  social  compass-points  to  a  newly 
arrived  tenderfoot,  said:  ''The  West  demands  you  smile 
and  swallow  your  personal  troubles  like  your  food.  No- 
body wants  to  hear  about  other  men^s  half-digested  prob- 
lems any  more  than  he  Ukes  to  watch  a  seasick  person 
working.' ' 

This  carefully  nurtured  cheerfulness  was,  not  improbably, 
the  mother  of  that  quality  sometimes  known  as  "Western 
breeziness.'^ 

Reserve  toward  strangers,  a  fourth  characteristic  of  the 
puncher,  was  due,  in  part,  to  the  mental  effect  from  rarely 
seeing  any  but  extreme  intimates,  and  for  days  together 
not  even  any  of  them,  and  in  part  to  the  fact  that  any 
newcomer  might  prove  to  be  a  horse  thief  or  an  intending 
settler,  and  thus  in  either  case  undesirable  upon  the  Range. 
The  moment  the  visitor  established  that  he  was  not  such 
an  interloper  all  reticence  vanished,  and  he  automatically 
became  a  courteously  welcomed  and  bounteously  treated 
guest. 

This  not  illogical  suspicion  of  strangers  evoked  two  cus- 
toms pursued  in  common  with  all  frontiersmen.  One  of 
these  customs  required  that  a  man  nearing  another,  par- 
ticularly when  upon  a  trail,  should  come  within  speaking 
distance  and  should  ''pass  a  word"  before  changing  his 
course,  unless,  for  self-evident  reason,  he  were  justified  in  a 
change.  The  excuse  for  this  usage  was  the  acknowledged^  / 
right  of  every  person  to  have  opportunity  to  ascertain  the  ' 
intent  of  all  other  persons  about  him.  Its  unwarranted 
violation  was  interpretable  as  a  confession  of  guilt,  or  as  a 
dehberate  and  flagrant  insult. 

The  other  custom,  for  a  hke  basis,  demanded  that  who- 


68  THE  COWBOY 

ever  approached  a  person  from  the  rear  should  halloa  before 
getting  within  pistol-shot,  and  that  a  camp  should  be  en- 
tered always  upon  like  signal,  and  if  possible  from  the 
direction  most  easily  viewable  by  the  camp's  occupants. 

There  was  no  prescribed  hailing  phrase,  but  there  com- 
monly was  given  at  short  range  to  unknown  persons,  if 
men,  ''Hulloa,  stranger,"  or  ''Howdy,  stranger";  if  women, 
''Good  day,  ma'am";  and  at  greater  distance  to  anybody 
the  long-drawn,  accented  "Whoo-up,  whoo-up,  whoo-pee"; 
though  at  this  greater  distance  to  persons  whose  identity 
was  recognized  might  float  instead  the  password  of  the 
ranching  fraternity,  a  password  which  was  a  copy  of  the 
shrill,  insistent  cry  of  the  coyote. 

When  thus  ascertaining  the  purposes  of  a  stranger,  or 
even  when  dealing  with  an  acquaintance,  one  had  always 
to  accept  at  face  value  whatever  name  the  stranger  or  ac- 
quaintance cared  to  put  forth  as  his  own.  It  was  inde- 
fensible to  dispute  it,  imless  it  were  patently  assumed  for 
purpose  of  committing  some  local  impropriety.  Moreover, 
extreme  tact  was  necessary  to  hurry  the  announcement  of 
even  a  pseudonym,  for  its  user  admittedly  was  its  natural 
custodian,  and  possibly  had  vahd  and  innocent  reason  for 
withholding  it.  Because  "none  came  West  save  for  health, 
wealth,  or  a  ruined  reputation,"  and  because  traditionally 
the  sand-bars  of  the  Missouri  River  were  made  of  dis- 
carded results  of  christenings,  and  because  it  was  recog- 
nized that,  on  the  banks  of  that  river,  "many  a  real  name 
had  been  bucked  out  of  the  saddle,"  and  because  many  in- 
terrogators were  themselves  on  shaky  patronymic  ground, 
the  West  rarely  asked  one  for  one's  name,  and  gravely  ac- 
cepted as  it  anything  one  cared  to  volunteer. 

Nevertheless,  the  West  reserved  the  right  to  say,  behind 
one's  back:  "You  know  Bill  Adams.  That's  his  name. 
It's  the  name  he's  using  now.  But  what's  his  real  name?" 
Sometimes  the  West  called  the  latter  his  "oncet  name." 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  69 

The  West  also  reserved  the  right  to  select  a  nickname 
for  a  man,  and  to  substitute  it  for  the  appellation  which 
he  himself  had  proffered,  though  in  so  doing  there  was  in- 
tended no  reflection  upon  his  truthfulness.  Hence  each 
section  of  the  Range  had  its  Shorty,  Slim,  Skinny,  Fatty, 
Squint,  or  Red  as  a  prefix  to  Bill  or  Jack  or  Brown  or  Smith; 
its  Texas  Joe,  Arizona  Kid,  and  Missouri  Jim;  its  Cat  Eye, 
Hair-Lip,  Freckles,  or  whatever  as  a  prefix  to  Riley,  Jones, 
or  White. 

Sand-Blast  Pete,  now  dead  and  gone,  the  small-pox  that 
pitted  your  face  and  gave  you  your  name  never  pitted  your 
heart.  You  proved  that  one  night  in  the  desert,  when, 
although  almost  exhausted,  you  went  forth  alone  and  ob- 
tained help  for  a  stranded  party  of  strangers. 

Although  every  ^'Greaser"  (i.  e.,  Mexican)  might,  in  the 
Southwest,  live  under  his  characteristic  Spanish  prenomen, 
Juan,  Jose,  or  what  not,  he  automatically  became  Mexican 
Joe  for  the  purposes  of  the  Northwest  the  instant  he  reached 
that  section. 

A  curious  phase  was  that  many  a  man  passed  always  by 
only  his  given  name,  and  that  none  of  his  associates  ever 
stopped  to  consider  that  he  must  have  a  surname  ''cached 
somewhere.'^  The  ranch  foreman,  on  welcoming  Mr.  New 
Yorker,  a  visitor,  would  say  something  like  the  following: 
''Mr.  New  Yorker,  shake  hands  with  Hen.  Hen,  this  is 
Mr.  New  Yorker  from  back  East.  He's  a  friend  of  the  boss. 
Mr.  New  Yorker,  Hen's  been  with  our  outfit  for  six  years, 
and  is  generally  reckoned  to  be  the  slickest  rider  in  this  half 
of  the  county."  If,  after  Hen  had  passed  beyond  ear-shot, 
Mr.  New  Yorker  had  asked  the  foreman  for  Hen's  last 
name,  the  questioner  would  have  seen  a  look  of  sudden 
surprise,  and  would  have  heard:  "Well,  I'm  damned.  I 
never  thought  of  that.  He  Hkely  has  got  one  somewhere. 
I  dunno  what  it  is.  He's  just  Hen,  and  if  he  thinks  that's 
good  enough  for  him  it  shore  is  for  us,  and  that's  about  the 


70  THE  COWBOY 

size  of  it.  Say,  stranger,  let  me  give  you  some  advice. 
■  You^re  a  pilgrim.  Excuse  me,  that  there  just  means  you're 
new  to  this  country.  If  I  was  you  I  wouldn't  try  to  hurry 
nothin',  and  I'd  travel  on  the  idee  that  Hen  likely  gave  a 
first-class  funeral  to  the  rest  of  his  names,  and  I  wouldn't 
ask  him  for  no  resurrections." 

Onto  whatever  single  names  survived  the  West  often 
tacked  descriptive  phrases.  By  this  system  there  was 
avoided  any  confusion  in  identity  among  the  '^  Johnnie 
down  with  the  Four  Bar  K  Outfit,"  the  ''Johnnie  who  rides 
for  the  Two  Bits  Ranch,"  the  ''Johnnie  up  on  the  White 
River  Range,"  and  "that  busted-snoot  Johnnie." 

As  an  incident  of  greetings  between  strangers  it  was  good 
'  form  for  each  to  bow  to  the  extent  of  temporarily  removing 
his  hat,  or  at  least  to  raise  his  right  hand  to  his  hat's  brim. 
This  took  the  theoretically  dangerous  hand  away  from  the 
gun's  position  at  the  belt.  Likewise  good  form  required 
that  a  man  discard  his  "shooting  iron"  before  entering  an- 
other person's  house.  This  latter  result  usually  was  accom- 
plished by  the  man's  unfastening  his  belt,  and  hanging  it 
with  its  attached  holster  from  the  horn  of  his  saddle. 

Furthermore,  even  at  one's  own  table  one's  gun  was  no 
proper  attendant  at  an  indoor  meal. 

Though  a  man  when  entering  a  dwelling-house  had  thus 
to  dispense  with  his  revolver,  he  was  not  required  to  take 
his  hat  from  off  his  head  save  during  the  moments  of  a 
bow  or  two.  Behatted  heads  were  common  within  doors, 
even  at  the  dinner  table,  though  except  in  the  earher  years 
they  were  somewhat  frowned  upon  at  dances. 

In  New  Mexico  the  local  law  recognized  the  wisdom  of 
the  disarming  custom,  and  forbade  the  carriage  of  weapons 
inside  the  limits  of  a  town.  Wherefore  the  local  official 
charged  with  the  duty  of  temporarily  impounding  the 
weapons  of  visitors  would  greet  incomers  with  a  statement 
which,  as  phrased  by  one  such  official,  was  "Howdy,  gents* 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  71 

Sorry,  but  no  guns  allowed  in  town.  Get  'em  when  you 
leave.  So  skin  yourselves,  skin  yourselves!"  And  there- 
upon the  visitors  resignedly  would  *' shuck"  their  weapons. 
When  a  man  was  introducing  to  each  other  two  of  his 
acquaintances,  the  operation  was  somewhat  formal,  though 
of  short  duration.  For  the  moment  every  one,  according  to 
sex,  was  referred  to  as  '^Mister,"  ^^Miss,"  or  ^^Missus," 
and  there  was  employed,  without  any  modification  of  word- 
ing, one  of  the  four  conventional  phrases  which,  as  adapted 

to  men,  ran  ''Mr. ,  shake  hands  with  Mr. ,"  ''Mr. 

,  step  up  and  meet  Mr. ,"  "Mr. ,  let  me  make 

you  acquainted  with  Mr. ,"  or  "Mr. ,  meet  Mr. 


In  all  affairs  of  ceremony  every  white  male  above  six- 
teen years  of  age  was  a  "gent"  unless  the  matter  were  one 
of  icy  coldness,  possibly  near  to  shooting.  Then  he  was  a 
"gentleman,"  with  syllables  slowly  spoken  and  widely 
spaced. 

The  title  of  mister  as  a  token  of  honor  was  permanently 
bestowed  upon  such  elderly  men  as  possessed  dignity  of 
carriage  and  had  made  brave  accomplishment. 

The  respectful  word  "ma'am"  occurred  repeatedly  in  all 
conversations  with  women. 

Except  for  an  occasional  "Adios,"  the  imiversal  parting 
salutation  was  "So  long." 

The  cowboy's  reserve  and  even  his  suspicion  had  their 
corollary  in  the  carefully  followed  precept  that  it  was  not 
good  form  to  exhibit  curiosity.  A  puncher,  passing  a 
stranger  or  entering  the  latter's  camp,  would  not  demean 
himself  by  seeming  to  note  the  stranger's  apparel  or  equip- 
ment. Nor,  on  leaving,  would  the  cowboy  gaze  back  over 
his  shoulder. 

Punctihous  as  were  the  ranchmen  in  comphance  with  all 
these  customs,  their  adherence  to  the  code  regarding  women 
travelling  upon  the  Range  transcended  punctiUousness  and 


72  THE  COWBOY 

rested  on  the  plane  of  highest  honor.  A  woman  journey- 
ing alone  upon  the  open  Range  was  as  safe  as  though  in 
her  own  house,  excepting  only  there  were  danger  from  In- 
dians or  from  border  Mexicans.  Any  passing  ranchman 
could  be  impressed  into  an  escort.  Many  a  schoohna'am 
has,  sometimes  alone,  sometimes  accompanied  by  a  con- 
scripted attendant,  ridden  from  the  fringe  of  the  settlements 
to  her  little  school  in  some  hamlet  far  out  on  the  plains. 

Any  violation  of  this  code  meant  the  hang-knot  of  the 
vigilance  committee,  or  on  occasion  the  latter's  more  ter- 
rible ''staking  out,"  wherein  the  culprit,  minus  eyelids, 
face  to  the  sun,  was  laid  upon  an  ant-hill  of  giant  size, 
wrists  and  ankles  tied  to  pegs  in  the  ground,  to  lose  in  a 
few  minutes  his  mind,  and  in  a  few  hours  the  final  vestige 
of  his  flesh. 

There  having  been  no  typical  cowboys,  there  were  no 
typical  tastes  in  which  they  as  cowboys  shared ;  but  as  men 
they,  like  almost  all  other  men  of  parts,  had  only  restricted 
admiration  for  the  masculine-mannered  female.  Years 
since,  some  Englishwomen,  exaggerated  types  of  the  hunt- 
ing set,  visited  at  their  brother's  ranch  in  the  Far  West. 
Horseshoe  jewelry  and  loudest  of  mannish  raiment  were 
predominant.  Upon  the  visit's  close  and  an  hour  after  the 
guests,  homeward  bound,  had  finally  left  the  ranch,  its 
cook,  red-haired,  freckle-faced,  one-eyed,  thus  addressed  a 
sympathetic  cowpuncher  in  the  hearing  of  another  and  un- 
suspected auditor:  ''Huh.  If  ever  I  have  to  git  married, 
I'm  going  to  marry  a  woman  what's  all  over  gol-durned 
fluffs." 

One  of  these  same  women,  riding  up  to  a  group  of  cow- 
boys, made  to  one  of  them  a  remark  which  contained  no 
impropriety  beyond  that  the  speaker  placed  herself  and  the 
men  upon  a  common  level.  There  flashed  back  to  her  the 
answer:  "For  God's  sake,  woman,  why  can't  you  let  us 
look  up  to  you?" 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  73 

Whatever  might  be  any  puncher^s  treatment  of  his  own 
womenfolk,  woman  in  the  abstract  was  an  object  of  respect 
and  obeisance. 

No  ambulance  from  a  metropolitan  hospital  could  have 
offered  more  gentleness  in  the  transport  of  a  female  patient 
than  was  intended  by  the  group  of  silent  men  escorting 
across  the  snow  a  figure  huddled  on  a  'Hravois^'  and  bound 
for  a  hospital  via  the  railway  over  a  hundred  miles  away. 
More  rude  nurses,  more  soUcitude  accompanied  this  horse- 
dragged,  bumping  stretcher  than  would  have  done  so  had 
its  contents  been  a  man. 

Feminine  sick-beds  as  compared  with  those  of  the  other 
sex  attracted  a  larger  quantity  of  the  medicines  which,  as 
the  news  of  serious  illness  passed  up  the  Range,  came  in 
on  the  gallop,  and  in  a  variety  which  embraced  not  only 
most  of  the  then  current  patent  remedies,  but  also  numerous 
unlabelled  and  unidentifiable  pills  and  liquids.  With  the 
last-mentioned  items  would  be  vouchsafed:  '^I  disremember 
just  what  they  is,  but  they  done  me  a  powerful  lot  of  good 
oncet.    Take  'em  and  try  'em.^' 

The  Range,  in  medical  matters,  dosed  itself,  and  took 
naught  but  patent  medicines;  in  dental  affairs  treated  itself 
with  blacksmith's  pincers;  but,  in  surgical  cases  of  serious- 
ness, conveyed  its  patients  to  the  settlements,  where  real 
doctors  might  be  found. 

Its  nursing  was  faithful  and  untiring,  however  anateurish, 
for  a  dangerous  life  tends  to  make  men  womanly;  and  the 
average  puncher  was  womanly,  though  Heaven  knows  he 
was  in  no  wise  ladylike. 

The  Cattle  Country's  self-administered  medicines  were 
limited  to  Jamaica  ginger,  cathartic  pills,  ''Cholera  Cure," 
'Tain  Killer,"  "Universal  Liver  Remedy,"  "Rheimiatism 
and  Kidney  Cure,"  and  horse  liniment,  this  last  being  kept 
only  for  human  use,  and  being  diluted  when  administered. 
'  The  liniment's  action  not  infrequently  was  supplemented 


74  THE  COWBOY 

by  a  steam  bath  taken  in  Indian  fashion.  For  this  purpose 
there  was  erected  a  ^^wickyup,"  a  low,  dome-shaped  frame- 
work of  sticks  covered  with  hides.  On  the  ground  in  the 
middle  of  the  structure  were  placed  red-hot  stones.  The 
patient  stripped  and  nestled  near  them.  A  bucket  of  water 
was  thrown  onto  the  stones,  and  human  parboiling  forth- 
with commenced. 

Transport  of  such  surgical  patients  as  could  not  sit  the 
saddle  was  effected  by  wagon  or  by  the  travois.  This  latter 
appliance  was  adopted  from  the  Indians,  and  consisted  of 
two  long  poles,  one  attached  to  each  side  of  a  horse,  and 
both  dragging  behind  him,  just  as  would  a  pair  of  elon- 
gated carriage  shafts  if  disconnected  from  the  vehicle's 
axle.  Behind  the  horse's  heels  there  was  fastened,  between 
the  poles,  a  basket  or  framework,  and  into  this  container 
went  the  comfortless  invalid. 

Sententiousness  was  another  characteristic  of  the  Range. 
Sententiousness,  which  among  the  earliest  cowboys  may 
have  come  wholly  from  the  loneliness  of  their  life,  was  in 
their  later  generations  founded  not  so  much  on  this  cause  as 
on  mere  convention.  Ultimately  it  became  more  than 
fashionable,  it  became  socially  obligatory,  to  speak  in  terse 
terms,  and  when  framing  a  sentence  to  ^*  bobtail  her  and 
jBll  her  with  meat."  So  adverse  was  the  man  of  the  Cattle 
Country  to  unnecessary  words  that  he  often  advised  a 
discursive  conversationalist  to  ^^save  part  of  your  breath 
for  breathing."  One  pimcher,  when  asked  for  his  opinion 
about  his  employer,  rephed;  '*  Can't  put  it  in  words.  Give 
me  an  emetic !" 

This  does  not  mean  that  the  average  cowboy  was  not 
talkative.  It  means  merely  that  he  was  epigrammatic. 
V  It  also  indicates  that  he  could  make  word-pictures.  A 
tramp  suddenly  appeared  in  a  Montana  cowboys'  camp. 
After  the  manner  of  tramps  he  had  silently,  sHnkingly,  self- 
effacingly  merely  arrived.    Bug  Eye,   whatever  his  last 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  75 

name,  one  of  the  punchers,  looked  up,  and  to  a  companion 
behind  him  announced:  *^One  no  work,  much  eat  just 
sifted  in/*  Can  there  be  found  a  better  word  than 
''sift"  for  the  typical,  aimless,  shifty  movement  of  the 
tramp? 

A  man  in  chaps,  taking  his  first  look  down  into  the 
Grand  Canyon  of  the  Yellowstone,  remained  quiescent  for 
two  minutes,  then  straightened  in  his  saddle  and  made  a 
soldierly  salute  to  that  great  abyss  and  galaxy  of  color.  All 
that  he  later  said  about  it  was  ''God  dug  that  there  hole  in 
anger,  and  painted  it  in  joy/' 

Another  man,  Tazewell  Woody,  who,  while  not  a  ranch- 
man but  instead  a  scout  and  hunting  guide,  yet  lived  in 
close  relationship  with  ranchmen,  was  with  a  companion 
searching  for  mountain-sheep.  The  men  had  reached  the 
summit  of  a  peak  the  moment  before  the  morning  sun  rose 
from  behind  another  peak,  and  shot  a  golden  pathway  across 
the  intervening  field  of  snow.  Woody's  companion,  with 
eyes  glued  to  binoculars  which  were  pointed  elsewhere, 
said  at  that  climactic  instant:  "There's  a  big  ram,''  and  was 
answered:  "Shut  up.     God's  waking." 

The  sententiousness,  and  still  more  the  reserve,  led  occa- 
sional observers  to  conclude  that  punchers,  as  a  class,  were 
taciturn,  even  morose.  This  conclusion  was  erroneous.  A 
few  punchers,  it  is  true,  were  morose,  but  most  of  the 
punchers,  like  all  other  old-time  Westerners,  merely  with- 
held their  intimacy  from  every  stranger  until  the  latter 
should  fully  have  disclosed  his  nature  and  have  established 
whether  he  were  a  "white  man"  or  else  what,  if  in  expur- 
gated form  (as  it  rarely  was),  was  termed  a  "son  of  a  gun," 
the  latter  either  unqualified  or  else  "plain,"  "fancy," 
"natural  born,"  "self  made,"  "pale  pink,"  "net,"  or,  worst 
of  all,  "double  distilled." 

For  some  inexplicable  reason  the  word  "net,"  when  used, 
always  followed  the  "gun,"  or  the  word  that  it  displaced, 


76  THE  COWBOY 

while  all  the  other  qualifying  expressions,  when  they  ap- 
peared, preceded  the  ''son." 

If  the  Westerner  eventually  released  his  intimacy,  he  took 
to  his  heart  the  stranger  and  forgot  reserve  completely, 
though  sententiousness  not  at  all.  The  stranger  by  his  own 
worth  had,  in  the  language  of  the  Westerner,  ''gotten  under 
the  latter 's  skin." 

The  cowboy  was  quite  apt  to  talk  in  quizzical  terms. 
Jim  Stebbina  and  Joe ( ?)  accompanied  a  mihtary  de- 
tachment during  the  Sioux  campaign  of  1876.  In  a  skirm- 
ish the  horse  of  one  of  them  fell  and  laid  a  stunned  rider 
on  the  ground.  There  ran  toward  this  man  a  squaw  armed 
with  one  of  the  stone-headed,  long-handled  hanmiers  known 
as  "skull  crackers,"  and  used  by  Indian  women  for  crush- 
ing the  heads  of  wounded  enemies.  The  semi-insensible 
puncher  was  recalled  to  action  by  his  companion's  announce- 
ment: "Look  out,  Jim.    There's  a  lady  coming." 

Dave  Rudio,  of  Oregon  and  Texas,  thus  described  a 
Texas  ranger's  kilhng  of  a  renegade:  "The  ranger  came  up 
and  said  quietly:  'You're  wanted.  You'd  better  come  along 
peaceable-hke.'  The  outlaw  he  began  to  throw  talk.  The 
ranger  he  said:  'Don't  act  up.  Be  sensible  and  come  along 
with  me.'  The  outlaw,  still  jawing,  started  to  reach.  He 
hadn't  a  tenderfoot's  chance  at  that  game,  for  the  ranger 
he  just  whirled  out  his  own  gun,  and  that  outlaw  stopped 
plumb  short  talking  to  the  ranger  and  began  a  conversa- 
tion with  Saint  Peter." 

Digressing  for  a  moment  from  the  cowboys,  but  still 
sticking  to  this  quizzical  phase  and  to  old-time  Westerners, 
Jake  Saunders  of  Denver  was  besought  by  an  ex-ranchman 
for  a  loan  of  twenty  dollars.  Saunders,  knowing  the  man's 
procUvity  for  borrowing,  and  so  curbing  his  own  usual 
generosity,  handed  over  to  the  borrower  but  one-half  of  the 
sum  requested.  The  borrower  said:  "I  asked  for  twenty," 
and  received  the  answer:  "That's  all  right.  We're  even. 
You've  lost  ten,  and  I've  lost  ten." 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  77 

Pop  Wyman,  deservedly  respected  in  Leadville,  Dead- 
wood,  and  elsewhere  for  his  honesty,  was  deahng  faro.  A 
particularly  obnoxious  player  had  been  fingering  chips, 
pushing  them  out  on  the  table  and  then  withdrawing  them. 
Upon  the  announcement  of  a  winning  card,  the  player 
claimed  that  one  of  his  peregrinating  stacks  of  chips  was 
within  the  lines  bounding  the  paying  counterpart  of  the 
successful  card.  He  vehemently  asked,  ''Am  I  on  or  off?" 
and  was  told,  ''Neither,  you're  out."  He  was.  He  landed 
on  the  sidewalk,  and  deserved  it. 

Among  the  punchers  many  words  disclosed  their  in- 
tended meaning  only  from  their  context.  For  instance 
"jamboree"  might  indicate,  among  other  things,  an  inno- 
cent dancing  party,  a  drunken  debauch,  or  an  active  event, 
whether  the  last  were  a  pistol  fight  or  a  stampede  of  animals. 
"Clean  straw"  either  denoted  exactly  what  it  said,  or  else 
it  signified  fresh  bed-sheets. 

A  few  other  words  and  phrases  had  arbitrary  meanings, 
akin  to  those  employed  in  the  cant  of  professional  criminals. 
Thus  a  "blue  whistler,"  because  of  the  pistol's  blued  frame, 
denoted  a  bullet,  while  a  "can't  whistle,"  for  obvious 
reason,  signified  a  hare-lipped  person.  A  "lead  plum"  was 
a  bullet,  while  a  "sea  plum"  was  an  oyster.  Many  of 
these  arbitrary  expressions  had  local  rather  than  general 
usage. 

The  cowboy's  utterances  were  permeated  with  slang. 
Slang,  since  the  foundation  of  the  United  States,  has  been 
the  natural  expression  of  its  youths,  and  the  cowboy,  what- 
ever his  years,  was  at  heart  always  a  youth.  To  the  slang 
of  ordinary  young  America  the  cowboy  added  by  pictur- 
esque perversions  of  technical  terms  of  his  business,  the 
whole  supplemented  everywhere  by  gamblers'  expressions; 
in  the  Southwest  by  various  Spanish  words,  and  particularly 
in  the  Northwest  by  limited  extracts  from  the  local  Indians' 
languages.  The  Latins'  "hombre,"  "manana,"  "pronto," 
and  "quien  sabe"  were  as  useful  in  Arizona  and  New 


78  THE  COWBOY 

Mexico  as  was  the  Red  Men's  'Heepee"  (i.  e.,  'Hent")  in 
Oregon. 

The  farther  "quien  sabe"  drifted  northward  from  the 
Mexican  border,  the  more  damaged  became  its  pronuncia- 
tion. A  few  leagues  of  northing  produced  ''keen  savvy," 
and  a  few  more  leagues  ''no  savvy." 

On  some  of  the  Mexican  border's  ranches  Spanish  instead 
of  English  was  the  prevaiUng  language. 

Everjrwhere  "waltz"  and  the  French  word  "chass6" 
were  current  as  interchangeable  synonyms  for  the  English 
word  "go,"  though  none  of  the  three  words  attempted  to 
substitute  itself  for  the  homely  term  "git."  "Git"  or 
"you  git"  was  the  most  affirmative  form  of  Western  com- 
mand for  an  undesirable  person  to  begin  immediate  retreat. 
No  qualifying  profanity  was  attached,  because  custom  had 
decreed  that  none  was  necessary.  Everywhere  it  was  recog- 
nized that  "git"  and  "you  git,"  if  unheeded,  were  possible 
curtain-raisers  to  bullets.  Mules  might  safely  disregard 
"giddap"  or  "glang,"  but  they  knew  that  "you  mules, 
git"  prophesied  the  hissing  of  the  whip-lash. 

"Chass6d  into"  and  "waltzed  into"  might  be  equivalent 
to  the  phrase  "happened  upon,"  so  that,  when  Joe  Edwards, 
to  repeat  his  own  words,  "chass^d  over  to  Albuquerque  and 
waltzed  into  my  aimt's  funeral,"  it  meant  merely  that  he 
had  travelled  to  the  city  in  question  and  unexpectedly  had 
come  upon  his  relative's  burial. 

Pidgin-English  contributed  its  quota  of  words  and  phrases. 
Its  "long  time  no  see  'em"  conveniently  set  forth  the  status 
of  a  searcher  for  some  lost  object,  while  its  "no  can  do" 
definitely  expressed  personal  impotence. 

In  the  extreme  Northwest  a  few  words  were  borrowed 
from  the  Chinook  jargon  of  the  coastal  trappers  and  trad- 
ers. The  words  most  commonly  taken  from  this  last- 
mentioned  source  were  "skookum"  (great),  "siwash"  (an 
Indian;  hence,  in  secondary  sense,  not  up  to  white  man's 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  79 

standard,  second-rate),  ''muckamuck"  (food,  or  to  eat  or 
to  drink),  ^'hiyumuckamuck"  (plenty  to  eat),  ''muckamuck 
chuck"  (to  drink  water),  ^^kaupee"  (coffee),  ^'cultus"  (des- 
picable, worthless),  *'cuitan"  (ahorse),  and  ''heehee"  (fun 
or  a  joke).    A  ''heehee  house "  was  any  place  of  amusement. 

Throughout  the  West  references  to  Indian  customs,  be- 
liefs, or  terms  were  used  commonly,  and  in  a  slangy  sense. 
Thus  a  puncher  was  apt  to  describe  as  ^'making  medicine" 
his  preparations  for  a  journey,  or  his  planning  of  an  enter- 
prise; to  state  later  that  this  '^medicine"  had  been  ^^good" 
or  '^bad,"  according  as  his  preparations  had  proved  suffi- 
cient or  insufficient,  or  his  planning  had  resulted  fortunately 
or  otherwise.  His  affirmative  thwarting  of  a  rival's  project 
was,  by  like  adaptation,  termed  ** breaking  the  medicine" 
of  the  rival. 

The  puncher  frequently  would  signify  his  acceptance  of 
an  offer  of  a  drink  of  whiskey  by  giving  an  Indian  sign, 
usually  that  for  medicine,  or  that  for  good  or  that  for  peace. 

The  punchers  in  general  knew  a  number  of  these  Indian 
signs,  and  often  used  them  in  lieu  of  spoken  slang  in  order 
to  dress  up  light-hearted  conversation.  But  only  such  of 
the  cowboys  as  were  brought  into  intimate  contact  with  the 
Red  Men  made  any  pretense  of  mastering  the  rest  of  the 
Indian  sign-language,  that  remarkable,  voiceless  means  of 
conveying  information. 

Tobacco  often  was  termed  ''killikinic"  or  ''kinnikinic," 
names  given  by  the  Indians  to  their  smoking  mixture  of 
willow  bark,  whether  without  or  with  an  admixture  of 
tobacco. 

Many  gambling  terms  were  used  in  a  figurative  way. 
Dice,  faro,  poker,  casino,  seven-up,  and  keno  each  con- 
tributed. The  dicer's  ^'at  the  very  first  rattle  out  of  the 
box"  expressed  prompt  action,  while  poker's  *'a  busted 
!  flush"  pictured  plans  gone  awry,  and  poker's  ''jack-pot" 
I  signified  either  a  general  smash-up  or  else  a  perplexing 


80  THE  COWBOY 

situation.  Poker  gave  also,  among  other  terms,  '^show- 
down," ''freeze-out,"  "call,"  "see  you,"  "raise,"  "bluff," 
"ante,"  and  "kitty,"  all  with  self-evident  slangy  meanings, 
unless  the  uninitiated  should  fail  to  appreciate  that  "ante" 
might  include  any  pajnoaent  for  any  purpose,  and  that 
"kitty"  might  embrace  any  public  or  charitable  fund. 
Thus  Lafe  Brown,  in  Oregon,  receiving  from  his  mother  an 
appeal  to  contribute  toward  the  rebuilding  of  the  church  in 
his  native  Eastern  town,  advised  her  that  he  would  "ante 
ten  dollars  to  the  church's  kitty." 

Whatever  idea  or  physical  asset  was  expected  when  ulti- 
mately put  in  use  to  bring  success  was  one's  "big  casino." 
In  the  class  of  big  casino  were  included  not  only  schemes  for 
outwitting  rivals,  but  also  powerful  weapons  presumably 
intimidating  to  enemies,  attractive  presents  supposedly 
irresistible  by  females,  speedy  horses  assumed  to  be  in- 
vincible in  racing.  If,  as  often,  expectations  miscarried, 
the  disappointed  person  ruefully  asserted  that  his  big  casino 
had  been  "trumped." 

Faro's  terms  permitted  one  puncher  to  "keep  cases"  on 
another  man,  rather  than  prosaically  to  observe  the  latter's 
actions  or  analyze  his  plans;  and  further  permitted  this 
puncher,  if  dissatisfied  with  these  actions  or  plans,  to 
"copper"  them  by  initiating  a  diametrically  opposite  sort 
of  performance  or  scheme.  From  this  same  source  came 
"getting  down  to  cases"  as  an  antonjnn  for  "beating  about 
the  bush." 

Because  of  seven-up,  "It's  high,  low,  jack  and  the  game" 
became  an  exclamation  announcing  successful  accomplish- 
ment of  any  task. 

Keno,  of  which  the  Sacramento  Chinaman  said:  "Fline 
glame.  Velly  slimple.  Dlealer  slay  'Kleno,'  and  ellyboUy 
ellse  slay  'O  hlell!'"  though  played  in  the  early  mining- 
camps,  was  not  played  upon  the  Range.  Nevertheless  it  lent 
its  name  to  the  ranchmen  for  exclamatory  use  when  herald- 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  81 

ing  the  ending  of  any  act.  The  throwing  of  an  elusive  steer, 
the  breaking  of  a  whiskey  bottle,  the  being  thrown  from  a 
horse's  back,  each  might  evoke  ^^Keno!" 

The  average  cowboy  was  a  bit  ruthless  in  his  treatment 
of  grammar;  this,  in  some  cases,  from  lack  of  education, 
in  other  cases  because  not  satisfied  with  the  amount  of 
damage  done  to  conventional  English  by  slang  alone. 

Despite  this  ruthlessness,  and  despite  the  cowboy's  gen- 
erous use  of  slang,  his  language  was  not  generally  as  remote 
from  that  of  Easterners  as  many  tale-writers  have  sug- 
gested. Except  for  grammatic  lapses  the  puncher  departed 
from  conventional  English  no  more  than  do  the  average 
American  newspapers  of  this  year  1922  in  such  of  their 
articles  as  describe  the  game  of  baseball. 

The  puncher's  conversation  customarily  was  redolent 
with  profanity;  but,  if  profanity  be  identifiable  from  the 
sense  and  not  the  spelHng  of  words,  many  of  the  puncher's 
expressions,  while  sacrilegious  on  the  tongues  of  others, 
were  but  slang  when  used  by  him.  The  common  misuse  of 
the  name  of  the  Deity  signified  no  purpose  to  revile  God. 
All  through  the  West  the  word  damn  descended  from  the 
pinnacle  of  an  oath  to  the  lowly  estate  of  a  mere  adjective 
unless  the  circumstances  and  manner  of  delivery  evidenced 
a  contrary  intent.  Words  could  be,  according  to  the  tone 
of  their  speaking,  an  insult  or  a  term  of  affection.  Where- 
fore men  frequently  were  endearingly  addressed  with  seem- 
ing curses  and  apparently  scourging  epithets.  From  this 
sprang  the  phrase  beloved  of  tale-writers:  '^ Smile,  when  you 
say  it  next.     Smile,  damn  you,  smile!" 

Damn  as  an  innocent  adjective  had  various  quizzical 
shades  of  meaning.  It  was,  among  other  things,  synony- 
mous, or  semi-synonymous,  with  ''very"  or  ''exactly." 
Thus  "promptly  at  one  o'clock"  and  "immediately"  might 
severally  come  from  a  puncher's  lips  as  "at  damned  one" 
and  "danmed  now." 


82  THE  COWBOY 

Damn,  however,  was  not  the  only  oath  used  by  the 
buckayro.  He  had  an  unpious  repertoire  which  was  of 
amazing  length,  and  contained  appallingly  blasphemous 
phrases.  Some  men  devoted  considerable  thought  to  the 
invention  of  new  and  ingenious  combinations  of  sacrilegious 
expressions. 

To  specialized  phrases  of  this  sort  the  admiring  public 
accorded  a  sort  of  copyright,  so  that  the  inventor  was  al- 
lowed to  monopolize  for  a  time  both  the  use  of  his  infamous 
productions  and  the  praise  that  they  evoked.  These  indi- 
vidual creations  were  known  as  ^'private  cuss-words.^' 

Some  men  held  in  reserve,  as  private  cuss-words,  phrases 
which  sounded  as  of  childlike  innocence,  but  which,  having 
been  arbitrarily  appointed  by  their  owners  as  symbols  to 
express  the  last  stages  of  anger  or  despair,  represented,  in 
fact,  the  extreme  of  profanity.  To  the  owner's  acquain- 
tances such  phrases  were  danger-signals.  Snake  Wheeler, 
Pinto  Bill,  or  Nebrasky (?),  each  could  for  many  con- 
secutive minutes  comment  upon  the  topography  and  tem- 
perature of  Sheol,  upon  the  probable  destination  of  the 
souls  of  the  bystanders  or  of  certain  cattle  or  horses,  upon 
alleged  irregularities  in  the  descent  of  various  persons,  yet 
the  human  auditors  remained  entirely  blas^.  But  when 
Snake  icily  said,  ''My  own  Aunt  Mary!"  or  Pinto  fairly 
hissed,  ''My  dead  sister's  doll!"  or  Nebrasky  quietly  but 
firmly  remarked,  "Little  Willie's  goat!"  some  individual 
either  ducked  or  "dug  for  his  cannon,"  or  else  a  horse  or 
steer  learned  how  it  felt  to  be  martyred. 

The  ranchmen  were  so  permeated  with  profanity  that, 
though  most  of  them  endeavored  to  refrain  from  it  when 
in  the  presence  of  decent  women,  but  few  of  the  men  were 
able  long  "to  keep  the  Ud  on  their  can  of  cuss-words."  An 
Eastern  woman,  riding  on  a  forest-girt  Wyoming  road, 
rounded  a  corner  and  trotted  into  the  full  blast  of  blas- 
phemy flowing  from  the  Hps  of  the  driver  of  a  bogged  mule 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  83 

team.  The  moment  the  driver  saw  the  woman,  he  curbed 
his  tongue,  and  apologized  sincerely  and  in  these  very  words: 
*' Excuse  me,  ma'am.  I  didn't  know  there  was  ladies  pres- 
ent. If  I  had,  I  wouldn't  a  swore.  Hi  there,  you  mule. 
Hell's  roarings  be  damned,  ma'am.  How  in  hell  can  a  man 
keep  from  dropping  out  a  cuss-word  now  and  then  when  a 

lot  of mules  jack-knife  on  him.     Excuse  me, 

ma'am.     I  sure  begs  your  pardon.     It  just  slipped  out.    Hi, 

there,  you  lead  mule,  you ." 

And  the  woman  fled,  pursued  by  first  a  plaintive  wail  of 
'^ Excuse  me,  ma'am,"  and  next  by  another  ^'Hi  there,  you 
mule"  and  its  unprintable  codicils. 

Nevertheless  the  puncher's  swearing  was,  to  no  small 
extent,  a  purely  conventional  exhibition  of  very  human 
and  quite  boyhke  desire  to  impress  bystanders.  Humor 
rather  than  wickedness  was  its  principal  source.  Where  in 
the  wide  world,  other  than  in  the  West,  would  grown  men 
have  ridden  miles  to  engage  in  a  competitive  ^^  cussing 
match,"  with  a  saddle  for  the  prize,  or  a  person  been  held 
forth  as  probably  the  State  champion  in  blasphemy? 

Western  tradition  was  that  much  the  best  judges  of  pro- 
fanity were  mules,  and  that  these  animals  instantly  could 
detect  the  difference  between  the  bold,  swinging  blasphemy 
of  a  ''regular"  and  the  timorous  ''parlor  swearing"  of  a 
"pilgrim." 

"Regular,"  the  antonym  of  "tenderfoot,"  began  early 
in  the  decade  of  the  seventies  to  be  wholly  supplanted  by 
the  terms  "Westerner"  and  "real  Westerner."  As  be- 
tween these  latter  terms,  a  "real  Westerner"  was  merely  a 
"Westerner"  who  had  unusual  force  of  character,  and  thus, 
in  another  phrasing  by  the  Range,  was  a  "he  man." 

The  subject  of  profanity  suggests  the  subject  of  reUgion, 
as  regards  which  the  cowboys  as  a  class  were  negative. 
Some  of  them,  either  atheistic  or  merely  agnostic,  were  open 
scoffers,  and  with  unction  displayed  to  all  newcomers  a 


84  THE  COWBOY 

certain  vicious,  stupid,  and  hopelessly  vulgar  printed  parody 
on  the  Bible.  This  particular  parody  was  scattered  all 
over  the  Far  West,  and  was  one  of  its  recognized  fixtures, 
along  with  the  lariat,  tin  can,  and  sage-brush.  But  most  of 
the  men,  whatever  their  inner  feeUngs  may  have  been, 
touched  Ughtly,  if  at  all,  upon  religious  matters.  *' Sunday 
stopped  at  the  Missouri  River,"  and  many  of  the  men  never 
had  opportunity  either  to  enter  a  church  or  to  talk  with  a 
clergjnnan.  A  fair  statement  is  that,  never  having  been 
religiously  awakened,  they  were  religiously  asleep. 

Very  marked  was  the  power  of  detailed  and  accurate  ob- 
servation of  such  things  as  were  within  the  realm  of  the  cow- 
boys' interests,  and,  from  the  things  observed,  simple  in- 
ductions were  instantly,  if  unconsciously,  made.  Then, 
too,  the  puncher  by  training  had  the  eye  of  a  hawk.  He 
had  no  need  for  field-glasses. 

Whatever  he  '^ raised"  upon  his  solitary  rides,  he  diag- 
nosed at  a  single  glance. 

When  an  object  suddenly  appeared  within  an  observer's 
horizon,  this  observer,  if  a  Westerner,  would  state  that  he 
had  ''raised"  the  object;  while  an  Easterner,  under  hke 
circumstances,  would  say  that  the  object  had  risen. 

Did  the  cowboy  ''raise"  a  horseman,  however  far  away, 
an  instant's  glimpse  told  whether  this  horseman  were  an 
Indian  or  a  ranchman.  The  differing  poses  in  the  saddle 
were  unmistakable;  the  Indian  always  squatting  and  seated 
like  a  sodden  bag  of  meal.  Closer  inspection  would  dis- 
close that  the  Indian's  toes  were  pointed  outward,  and  that 
his  heels  drubbed  on  his  horse's  sides  at  every  step  the  poor 
brute  took. 

The  lope  could  not  carry  a  rider  so  rapidly  past  five  or 
six  closely  bunched  animals  that  he  would  not  note  and 
remember  all  the  beasts'  identifying  points. 

Were  his  progress  slower,  his  observation  would  be  much 
increased.    There  approached  each  other  upon  the  trail  a 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  85 

man  and  thirty  horses,  the  latter  herded  by  men  behind. 
The  horses,  some  on  the  trail,  some  beside  it,  here  one, 
there  two  or  three  abreast,  interrupted  their  steady  walk 
only  by  stops  for  an  instant  to  snatch  a  grass  tuft  or  to 
place  a  kick.  These  movements  of  the  head  and  heels 
momentarily  so  turned  the  animals  as  to  show  all  their 
markings  to  a  practised  human  eye.  The  man  swung  off 
the  trail,  around  the  band,  and  to  its  herders  at  its  rear. 
Two  minutes  of  conversation  and  he  resumed  his  way. 
Then  and  for  days  thereafter  he  could  have  described  with 
certainty  the  color,  marking,  sex,  size,  and  brand  of  every 
animal.  One  brute  did  not  attempt  to  dodge  before  re- 
ceiving a  kick  upon  its  left  shoulder.  The  man,  of  course, 
noticed  that,  and  it  forthwith  informed  him  that  the  animal 
was  blind  on  that  side. 

At  the  conversation  behind  the  band  there  doubtless  oc- 
curred a  simple  but  characteristic  act.  At  least  one  of  the 
men,  to  rest  himself,  would  have  thrown  a  leg  over  his 
horse^s  neck  and  sat  in  the  saddle,  either  with  one  knee 
crooked  about  the  horn,  or  else  squarely  sideways,  with  a 
stirrup  flappingly  hanging  from  one  toe.  That  was  a  typi- 
cal Western  pose. 

Smoking,  while  universal,  was  practically  restricted  to 
cigarettes,  which  were  pronounced  cig-a-reets,  and  were 
made  by  the  smoker.  Although  in  fact  the  great  majority 
of  cowboys  had  to  use  both  hands  in  the  operation  of  roll- 
ing and  hghting,  consummate  elegance  dictated  that  but  a 
single  hand  should  be  employed;  and  that  the  rolling  should 
be  effected  by  the  finger-tips  of  this  single  hand,  or,  better 
still,  through  a  method  which  was  successfully  followed  by 
some  of  the  cowboys  and  was  studiously  attempted  by  all 
of  them. 

In  this  latter  method,  the  paper,  laid  above  the  knee, 
received  a  charge  of  tobacco,  and  then,  without  change  of 
position,  was  rolled  into  shape  by  a  quick  sweep  of  the 


86  ,THE  COWBOY 

ball  of  the  thumb.  Next,  with  the  finished  cigarette  held 
between  the  fourth  and  fifth  fingers  of  the  rolling  hand,  the 
thumb  and  forefinger  of  that  hand  grasped  one  loop  of  the 
tobacco-sack's  draw-string,  the  puncher's  teeth  seized  the 
other  loop,  and  a  whirUng  of  the  sack  like  a  windmill  closed 
its  aperture.  A  dab  by  the  tongue  along  the  papered  cylin- 
der, a  match  drawn  by  that  same  rolling  hand  across  tight- 
ened trousers,  and  the  cigarette  was  "working."  The  per- 
formance of  this  feat  was  one  of  the  conventional  ways  of 
exhibiting  ostensible  nonchalance  when  on  the  back  of  a 
bucking  horse. 

** Eating  and  spitting  tobacco"  was  in  common  but  far 
from  universal  use. 

Bowed  legs  were  a  sign  of  the  puncher's  craft.  The  West- 
erner, from  his  earhest  boyhood,  when  not  sitting  on  a 
chair  sat  on  a  horse.  With  no  small  number  of  men,  did  a 
pedestrian  journey  out  of  doors  rarely  exceed  the  ten  feet 
between  the  house-door  and  the  horse-rack.  So  habited 
were  these  men  to  riding,  that  a  projected  trip  to  another 
building,  two  hundred  feet  away,  would  send  them  mto 
saddle.  Nature,  as  her  price,  subtracted  symmetry  from 
their  legs,  strength  from  their  ankles,  and  created  a  gait 
akin  to  that  of  a  sailor  ashore.  Dear  old  Wedding  Ring 
Charlie  bore  a  sobriquet  descriptive  of  his  nether  contour, 
and,  though  ever  able  firmly  to  sit  his  saddle  through  twenty- 
four  consecutive  hours,  could  only  with  greatest  difficulty 
walk  for  twenty  yards. 

The  feet  at  the  ends  of  such  curved  legs  were  very  apt 
to  toe  in,  not  to  "track"  as  the  West,  in  wagon  builders' 
language,  described  a  deviation  from  normal  pointing. 

The  ranchmen,  whether  owners  or  employees,  in  common 
with  all  other  then  Westerners,  while  thoroughly  honest  in 
their  mutual  dealings,  had  a  very  easy  conscience  as  re- 
gards accepting  Eastern,  and  particularly  English,  money 
in  return  for  what  was  sold.    They  at  times  would  go  so 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  87 

far  as  ostensibly  to  convey  large  rivers  and  huge  tracts  of 
go vernmen tally  owned  land. 

This  attitude  was  not  due  to  affirmatively  intended  dis- 
honesty for  personal  gain,  but  arose  from  a  combination 
of  factors  which  largely  were  in  the  nature  of  erroneous 
assumptions. 

First  of  all,  the  West,  as  an  undeveloped  section,  was  in 
such  dire  need  of  money  for  the  development  of  natural 
resources  that  ^'bringing  money  into  the  country'*  was  re- 
garded as  a  particularly  public-spirited  act.  Each  new 
fund,  when  put  into  circulation,  aided  so  many  men  that 
the  arrival  of  any  fund  obscured  the  inducement  offered 
for  its  coming. 

A  second  factor  was  the  Westerner's  unflattering  opinion 
of  Easterners  and  Englishmen,  this  opinion  having,  as  re- 
gards Easterners,  a  not  illogical  tang  of  bitterness. 

The  West,  despite  its  progressiveness  in  most  matters, 
was  thoroughly  unregenerate  in  its  clinging  to  prejudices 
of  the  sort  by  which  early  Anglo-Saxon  America  was  beset, 
and  consequently  affected  a  contempt  for  '^foreigners,"  the 
West  including  Easterners  in  that  category.  From  this 
view-point  the  Range  had  toward  the  financial  trimming  of 
some  *' effete"  person  the  same  complacent  attitude  as  the 
world  has  ever  maintained  toward  the  misfortunes  of  such 
people  as  had  forfeited  public  respect,  as  for  instance 
toward  the  excessive  gambling  losses  of  gilded  youths. 

Nor  did  the  West  see  any  ground  for  pity  for  the  victims. 
The  Westerner,  having  started  fife  when  financially  ''flat 
broke,"  and  having  lived  in  a  country  where  lands  were 
given  to  the  asker  and  natural  products  belonged  to  the 
finder,  confidently  assumed  that  the  victim's  monetary 
losses  could  be  fully  compensated  by  his  "hunting  up"  a 
mine  or  other  national  largess  of  value.  Thus  the  West, 
from  personal  experience,  believed  that  "going  bust"  or 
"being  busted"  was  not  a  serious  state  and  was  terminable 


88  THE  COWBOY 

at  any  time  by  the  insolvent's  initiative.  Incidentally,  this 
was  why  the  West  always  was  ready  to  do  what  the  East 
often  could  not  risk,  to  "take  a  chance"  in  a  business  opera- 
tion. 

Next,  each  Westerner  arrogated,  not  to  himself  but  to 
his  fellow  Westerners,  the  possession  of  the  major  portion 
of  the  nation's  brains,  and  took  the  stand  that,  if  weak- 
lings chose  to  invade  the  country  of  men  and  to  trade  with 
them,  the  weaklings  should  look  out  for  themselves.  The 
Range  made  no  allowance  for  the  fact  that  the  settled  busi- 
ness customs  of  England  and  the  East,  and  the  established 
significance  of  the  trade  expressions  used  there  might  differ 
from  such  as  obtained  within  the  Cattle  Country.  It  as- 
sumed that  its  own  customs  and  its  own  construction  of 
technical  terms  were  exclusively  controlling.  With  this 
tacit  creation  of  a  seemingly  fair  field  for  contest,  the  West 
viewed  a  business  transaction  of  intersectional  or  interna- 
tional appUcation  as  being  to  no  small  extent  a  competitive 
trial  of  intellect,  and  considerable  local  pride  was  aroused 
among  the  friends  of  a  ranchman  who  had  "shown  some 
Easterner  or  Englishman  how  to  think."  This  ranchman's 
success  was  measured,  not  so  much  by  the  amount  of  his 
financial  profit,  as  by  the  extent  to  which  he  cleverly  had 
outwitted  his  "effete"  victim;  and,  if  the  latter  had  been 
made  to  appear  ridiculous,  so  much  the  better. 

Furthermore,  the  Westerner,  in  addition  to  relegating 
Easterners  to  the  impersonal  status  of  foreigners,  stored 
up  against  them  three  affirmative  grievances.  The  West- 
erner resented,  first,  the  East's  lack  of  interest  in  the  former's 
country,  resented,  second,  the  East's  so  largely  profiting 
from  a  rehandling  of  the  West's  productions,  and,  third, 
to  some  extent  believed  that  the  latter  condition  spelled 
more  than  unfairness,  and  that  he,  the  Westerner,  ever  was 
being  affirmatively  defrauded  by  the  East.  Thus  he  coun- 
tenanced recoupment  from  individual  Easterners. 

The  puncher's  intense  admiration  for  the  scenic  beauties 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  89 

of  his  Western  country,  and  the  failure  of  Easterners  in 
general  to  visit  it  contributed  largely  to  the  creation  of  the 
puncher's  antipathy  toward  the  East.  Every  Easterner 
who  went  to  Europe  instead  of  to  Colorado  or  to  California, 
every  Easterner  who  mentioned  the  Alps  instead  of  the 
Rockies  fertilized  this  prejudice.  The  West's  censure  of  the 
East  in  this  regard  was  based,  not  on  the  theory  that  the 
moneys  spent  in  European  travel  might  otherwise  have 
gone  Westward,  but  on  the  fact  that  the  Easterner  pre- 
ferred admiration  of  the  sights  of  Europe  to  worship  of 
Western  landscapes. 

The  Westerner  had  never  been  brought  face  to  face  with 
great  buildings,  great  paintings,  great  statues,  and  thus  he 
did  not  sense  their  possibilities,  did  not  realize  that  there 
could  exist  objects  of  this  sort  worth  crossing  the  Atlantic 
to  see,  and  that  Europe  was  their  storage  place.  The  single 
beauty  field  of  which  he  knew  was  natural  scenery,  and  he 
sincerely  believed  that,  in  this,  nature  had  given  her  best 
to  America's  West,  to  '^  God's  Country,"  as  all  its  dwellers 
termed  it. 

The  salient  scenery  of  the  West  consisted  of  mountains, 
canyons,  and  waterfalls,  punctuated  by  the  geysers  of  the 
present  Yellowstone  National  Park. 

The  puncher  confidently  matched  the  Rockies  against 
the  only  foreign  range  with  the  existence  of  which  he  was 
familiar,  the  Alps,  and  against  the  only  Eastern  range  the 
character  of  which  he  kept  in  mind,  the  White  Mountains 
of  New  Hampshire.  With  his  back  confidently  braced 
against  the  Rockies,  anchored  as  they  were  to  the  Arctic 
and  Cape  Horn,  he  called  the  Alpine  *^ Mount  Blank"  a 
badger-hole;  and,  discovering  that  the  bottom  of  a  deep 
depression  in  a  plain  in  Colorado  had  exactly  the  same  alti- 
tude above  sea-level  as  had  the  summit  of  New  England's 
highest  peak,  joyfully  named  the  bottom  of  that  hole 
Mount  Washington. 

The  West  was  particularly  rich  in  majestic  waterfalls, 


90  THE  COWBOY 

their  least  one  more  important  than  any  Europe  had. 
Wherefore  the  puncher,  with  indignant  partisanship  and 
great  enthusiasm,  berated  Lauterbrunnen  and  the  falls  of 
the  Rhine.  Even  America's  Niagara  at  times  was  scolded. 
One  night,  below  the  great  cataract  of  the  Snake  River, 
one  of  the  tremendous  spots  of  North  America,  Jim,  i.  e., 
Jim  whatever  his  last  name  may  have  been,  having  dis- 
missed the  Staubbach  Fall  of  Switzerland  as  ''a  mere  water- 
ing-pot," announced  with  exultant  pride:  '^European  water- 
falls. Hell !  Bring  over  the  biggest  of  them,  and  this  here 
real  one  will  squirt  it  to  a  finish." 

Did  a  tenderfoot  mention  canyons  to  a  Westerner,  the 
latter  merely  grinned,  said,  '^Yellowstone,  Colorado,"  and, 
if  he  chewed  tobacco,  bit  his  plug. 

As  for  geysers,  the  West  knew  that  there  were  three  prin- 
cipal fields:  New  Zealand  (''how  did  one  reach  there?"), 
Iceland  ("nobody  went  there"),  and  the  Yellowstone.  Eu- 
rope and  the  East  had  no  geysers.  From  the  cowboy's 
view-point,  they  did  not  deserve  any. 

In  the  railroad  yard  at  Green  River,  Wyoming,  one  hot 
afternoon,  there  ran  between  a  complacent  native  son  of 
Utah  and  a  homesick  ex-Bostonian  a  bitter  debate  on  the 
comparative  scenic  beauties  of  New  England  and  the  West, 
and  the  relative  merits  of  the  inhabitants  of  those  locali- 
ties. The  debate  bumped  along  now  in  favor  of  this  side, 
now  of  the  other,  until  suddenly  terminated  and  conclusively 

won  by  this  uncontrovertible  argument:  "By  G ,  if  your 

Eastern  folks  ever  had  guts,  why  didn't  they  get  their  own 
geezers  ?  " 

The  cowboy  could  not  understand  why  the  Easterner 
should  prefer  to  stay  on  the  Atlantic  coast  or  to  go  to  Eu- 
rope when,  as  the  Cattle  Country  thought,  ordinary  com- 
mon sense  should  have  taken  him  Westward. 

And  when  the  Easterner  did  go  Westward,  he  could  not 
properly  saddle  a  horse,  he  could  not  properly  ride  the  beast, 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  01 

he  could  not  find  his  way  through  a  trackless  wilderness, 
he  could  not  take  care  of  himself  in  the  open,  he  expected 
some  non-existent  woman  to  do  his  cooking  and  to  wash 
his  clothes,  he  carried  a  very  shiny  and  very  small-bore 
pistol,  and,  while  tracking  big  game,  he  stepped  on  every 
dry  stick  within  his  reach.  He  called  the  corral  a  barn- 
yard ;  and,  though  he  had  seen  the  West,  he  permitted  his 
relatives  to  remain  *'back  East."  The  Range,  realizing 
that  the  Easterner  was  very  bungling  in  every  attempt  to 
do  any  of  the  particular,  technical  things  that  every  West- 
erner had  of  necessity  mastered,  looked,  when  gauging 
efficiency,  no  farther  than  the  boundaries  of  the  Cattle 
Country,  and  did  not  appreciate  that  beyond  those  bound- 
aries might  be  an  important  field  of  activity  and  thought 
with  which  the  West  was  not  conversant,  and  that  the  very 
tenderfoot  who  called  the  corral  a  barnyard  might  be  a 
leader  in  that  field. 

The  Cattle  Country  complained  that  the  West  exerted 
itself  to  produce  the  nation's  raw  materials  in  the  way  of 
meat,  hides,  wool,  wheat,  and  precious  metals,  that  the  East 
was  wholly  unproductive,  but  that  nevertheless  the  East, 
by  ownership  of  the  factories  and  by  control  of  the  markets, 
unfairly  reaped  the  major  portion  of  the  profits  from  the 
raw  products  which  the  Westerners  laboriously  had  orig- 
inated. The  cowman  berated  commissions  and  stock-yard 
charges  upon  the  sales  of  his  cattle. 

The  Westerner,  who  was  accustomed  to  obtain  through 
federal  gift  whatever  lands,  water,  grass,  fuel,  building  wood, 
and  wild  meat  he  needed,  did  not  pause  to  consider  that  in 
the  West  alone  did  the  government  make  such  gifts;  and, 
on  reading  in  his  newspaper  that  some  little  parcel  of  New 
York  City  realty  had  fetched  a  tremendous  price,  he  vaguely 
or  more  definitely  concluded  that  '^Wall  Street''  was  al- 
lowed all  the  cream  of  the  federal  benefactions,  and  that 
in  some  undisclosed  manner  the  West  had  been  cheated 


92  THE  COWBOY 

out  of  its  fair  share  of  the  profit.  The  puncher  assumed 
that,  if  land  at  the  corner  of  Wall  Street  and  Broadway 
in  New  York  brought  fifty  dollars  per  square  foot  while 
productive  tracts  in  the  Cattle  Country  rarely  rose  above 
ten  dollars  for  each  acre,  there  was  some  dishonesty  in  the 
situation,  and  he  gave  the  blame  for  it  to  the  East. 

The  Cattle  Country  had  for  itself  the  same  kind  of  com- 
placent self-satisfaction  that  the  then  contemporary  At- 
lantic coast  had  for  what  the  latter  called  the  United  States; 
the  United  States,  according  to  the  Atlantic  coast^s  then 
view-point,  consisting  of  three  thousand  miles  in  width  of 
territory  which  might  or  might  not  contain  inhabitants 
Hving  westward  of  Chicago. 

The  Cattle  Country  extended,  out  of  its  self-complacency, 
a  friendly  interest  to  so  much  of  the  Middle  West  as  did 
not  lie  eastward  of  Chicago;  but,  beyond  the  easterly  bound- 
ary of  that  city,  the  curiosity  of  the  Cattle  Country  did 
not  go,  save  on  occasional  trips  either  to  gather  diverting 
bits  of  information  Hke  a  jumping  from  the  Brooklyn  Bridge 
or  Captain  Webb^s  attempt  to  swim  through  Niagara's 
whirlpool,  or  else  to  obtain  a  grievance  against  the  East. 
A  considerable  amount  of  admiring  interest  was  incited 
both  by  the  rapid  growth  of  Chicago  and  by  the  heights 
of  its  successively  erected  ^' skyscrapers,"  particularly  in 
so  far  as  they  promised  an  ultimate,  hopeless  outdistancing 
of  the  City  of  New  York  in  both  population  and  tall  build- 
ings. 

A  friendly  interest  was  extended  also  to  the  Pacific  slope. 

Very  definite  acquaintance  was  had  with  Mexico,  its 
geography,  industries,  and  political  affairs. 

The  rest  of  the  world  did  not  function  on  the  Cattle  Coun- 
try's map  except  in  so  far  as,  even  back  in  the  early  eighties, 
a  few  prophets  said  that  some  day  California  might  have 
trouble  with  Japan.  The  only  news  the  Cattle  Country 
received  from  Europe  was  that  which,  from  time  to  time 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  93 

and  in  squib-like  form  appearing  in  Western  newspapers, 
was  largely  of  the  Captain  Webb  variety,  or  else  related 
to  royal  assassinations  or  the  burning  of  cities. 

In  all  this,  the  West  was  relatively  not  a  whit  more  in- 
sular than  the  rest  of  the  United  States.  America  has  ever 
restricted  its  intensive  interest  to  itself,  and  has  saved  its 
most  burning  curiosity  until  a  new  family  should  move 
into  the  house  next  door. 

Of  its  own  affairs  the  Cattle  Country  had  an  astonish- 
ingly definite  and  accurate  knowledge.  The  West's  own 
geography  down  to  its  minutest  details  was  at  the  finger- 
tips of  everybody  upon  the  Range.  Whatever  visitor  might 
wish  information  as  to  the  crossings  of  the  Rio  Grande  could 
obtain  reliable  information  at  Sumpter,  Oregon,  or  at  Me- 
dora  in  Dakota,  information  no  less  specific  and  trustworthy 
than  he  could  procure  at  Laredo  upon  the  stream's  very 
bank.  Texas  knew  as  much  about  the  Gallatin  River  as 
did  Bozeman,  Montana,  past  which  it  flowed.  Even  every 
little  creek  had  Rangewide  notoriety.  Arizona  had  no  more 
knowledge  about  her  San  Francisco  peaks  than  had  Wyo- 
ming, while  the  dwellers  by  the  Bitter  Root  Mountains  of 
Idaho  and  the  people  who  lived  in  the  shadow  of  Colorado's 
Sangre  de  Cristo  Range  knew  every  principal  trail  and  can- 
yon in  both  these  chains. 

This  geographical  knowledge  had  causation  other  than 
merely  abstract  interest.  The  Range  dweller  was  called 
upon  in  connection  with  the  business  of  his  live  stock  to 
travel  often  and  far.  He  never  knew  when  and  whither  he 
next  might  journey.  Distance  never  balked  him.  The 
school  of  the  Texas  Drive  taught  the  meaninglessness  of 
miles.  And  yet,  though  he  saw  many  places,  he  could  not 
visit  every  place  upon  the  map.  His  intimate  knowledge 
of  these  unseen  spots  he  obtained  from  the  descriptions 
given  him  by  other  Westerners,  descriptions  such  as  could 
be  given  only  by  frontiersmen  and  by  engineers,  descrip- 


94  THE  COWBOY 

tions  by  which  his  brain  received  through  the  medium  of 
his  ears  a  picture  and  topographical  plan  as  vivid  and  de- 
tailed as  his  eyes  might  otherwise  have  procured. 

The  Cattle  Country  kept  somewhat  close  track  of  all  its 
people.  Ranchmen  on  Montana's  Musselshell  knew  in 
general  as  to  who  was  raising  cattle  in  the  Texan  county 
of  Palo  Pinto,  while  ''down  in  San  Antone,"  one  not  im- 
probably might  learn  the  names  of  almost  all  the  outfits 
along  Nebraska's  Platte. 

Cattlemen  on  some  of  Oregon's  Grant  County  ranges, 
making  an  onslaught  on  local  sheep,  drove  hundreds  of  the 
"woollies"  into  the  forests  of  the  Blue  Mountains,  and  fire 
did  the  rest.  Presently  the  entire  Cattle  Country  knew 
all  the  details,  just  as  it  promptly  knew  all  the  details  when 
''lumpy  jaw"  appeared  in  the  Neutral  Strip,  "hoof  and 
mouth  disease"  crept  in  at  North  Park,  drought  struck 
Judith  Basin,  or  Green  River  was  "up,"  i.  e.,  in  unusual 
flood.  A  ranchman  scarcely  could  move  his  thousand  steers 
at  Laramie  without  their  transit  being  eventually  reported 
along  the  Pecos. 

A  man  would  ahght  from  a  train  in  Nebraska  at  Grand 
Island  or  in  Kansas  at  Abilene.  Some  local  resident  in 
chaps  would  give  him  a  second  glance,  a  searching  if  a  hur- 
ried one,  and  would  thus  address  the  train's  conductor: 
"Captain,  am't  that  Angus,  the  new  sheriff  over  in  John- 
son County,  Wyoming?  I  ain't  never  seen  him,  but  a  feller 
down  in  Texas  told  me  what  he  looked  Hke."  Thus,  in  an- 
other phase,  the  frontiersman's  descriptive  power  had  func- 
tioned, and  Sheriff  Angus's  picture  had  been  painted  with 
accuracy  as  pronounced  as  had  obtained  when  a  mountain 
range  and  the  trails  across  it  had  by  word  of  mouth  been 
set  with  vivid  clarity  before  some  inquirer. 

Incidentally  the  Cattle  Country  obtained  its  news  not 
so  much  through  the  media  of  its  newspapers  and  the  mails 
as  it  did  through  the  spoken  words  of  men  who,  meeting 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  95 

in  the  open  country,  stopped  their  ponies  and  '^  passed  a 
word." 

The  Cattle  Country  was  interested,  of  course,  in  things 
other  than  those  above  enumerated;  but,  unless  these  latter 
matters  involved  mechanical  inventions,  or  either  discoveries 
or  theories  in  science,  or  else  epoch-making  events,  they 
usually,  to  obtain  a  hearing,  had  first  to  prove  that  more 
or  less  directly  they  would  affect  the  Range.  International 
relations  could  find  no  audience. 

The  Cattle  Country,  as  regards  the  intellectual  subjects 
that  interested  it,  had  a  very  lively  curiosity,  was  little  dis- 
posed to  be  mentally  lazy  and  to  take  anything  for  granted. 
Nor  was  it  apt,  without  investigation  of  its  own,  to  accept 
as  conclusive  other  people's  opinions  and  to  rely  upon  them. 
It  directed  to  these  subjects  painstaking,  tireless,  and  ex- 
tensive consideration.  The  loneliness  of  the  life  gave  am- 
ple time  for  thought,  none  of  which  was  wasted  on  neurotic 
introspection  or  was  subject  to  interruption. 

The  constant  working  of  this  curiosity,  the  habitual  exer- 
cise of  the  powers  of  accurate  observation  and  of  mental 
concentration  collectively  produced,  from  time  to  time, 
data  valuable  in  the  field  of  science.  The  range  and  habits 
of  the  several  species  of  wild  animals,  the  location  and  area 
of  the  way  stations  used  by  the  different  varieties  of  migra- 
tory birds,  the  latters'  several  migration  time-tables,  the 
situs  of  fossil  deposits,  marked  abnormalities  in  geological 
formations,  peculiarities  in  the  dress  and  customs  of  various 
Indian  tribes,  and  other  matters  of  like  character  were  ob- 
served, and  frequently  were  reported  to  the  Smithsonian 
Institution,  to  a  local  university,  to  some  locally  operating 
scientific  expedition  from  an  Eastern  university,  to  some 
field  party  of  the  federal  government's  Geological  Survey, 
or,  occasionally  and  strange  to  say,  to  the  nearest  United 
States  marshal. 

Though  most  of  these  reports  brought  no  additions  or 


f 


96  THE  COWBOY 

amendments  to  scientific  knowledge  as  it  then  existed,  some 
did,  and  laid  real  foundation  for  new  theories  to  be  created 
in  scholarly  laboratories,  or  else  confirmed  theories  pre- 
viously so  made  but  then  not  as  yet  conclusively  estab- 
lished, or  else  they  caused  either  a  doubting  or  a  complete 
rejection  of  theories  that  had  obtained. 

It  is  safe  to  say  that  no  equal  number  of  amateur  inves- 
tigators in  any  other  section  of  the  United  States  would 
have  produced  anywhere  nearly  the  same  quantity  of  useful 
data. 

The  Cattle  Country,  thus  committing  its  mind  actively 
to  concrete,  tangible  matters,  was  not  prone  to  interest  it- 
self in  abstract,  intangible,  philosophical  subjects.  It  sym- 
pathized with  the  view-point  of  Steve  Hawes,  a  cook  with 
convictions:  f  Such  things,  they  don't  bring  no  facts  to 
nobody.  The  feller  that's  a-goin'  to  do  the  talkin',  he  just 
natcherally  begins  by  pickin'  out  a  startin'  pint  that  ruUy 
ain't  nowhars  at  all.  He  brands  that  startin'  pint '  Assoom- 
in'  that,'  so  he  can  know  it  if  he  runs  acrost  it  agin.  Then 
he  cuts  his  thinkin'  picket-rope,  and  drifts  all  over  the  hull 
mental  prairie  until  he  gits  plumb  tuckered  out.  And  when 
he  gits  so  dog-gone  tired  that  he  can't  think  up  no  more 
idees  to  wave  around  and  look  purty  in  the  wind,  he  just 
winds  up  with  ^Wherefore,  it  follows.'  Follows.  Hell!  It 
don't  follow  no  thin'.     It  just  comes  in  last.'^/ 

Then,  too,  the  Cattle  Country,  with  its  directness  of 
thinking,  was  apt  to  content  itself  with  ascertaining  the 
merely  proximate  cause  of  the  phenomena  that  attracted 
interest,  and  to  consider  that  attempts  to  trace  further 
back  into  the  chain  not  only  were  futile,  but  also  took  one 
into  purely  speculative  channels  and  away  from  "facts." 

That  same  Steve  Hawes,  after  patiently  listening  to  two 
college  graduates  academically  discuss  the  cause  of  Julius 
Caesar's  death,  thus  summarized  the  whole  affair:  "What  did 
recurrin'  desire  for  constitooshanl  guvnment,  return  of  de- 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  97 

mocracy,  and  them  other  vague  things  youVe  bin  talkin* 
about  have  to  do  with  it  anyhow?  All  there  was  to  it  was 
that  Csesar,  he  didn^t  draw  in  time,  and  got  in  front  of  that 
feller  Cassius^s  dofunny,  while  Brutus  he  come  in  with  the 
sweetener.  Now  it  appears  to  me  that  them  was  the  facts, 
leastwise  the  true  facts  and  all  that's  wuth  considering." 

The  essayist's  type  of  presentation  found  small  favor. 
For  the  essays  upon  light  subjects  the  Range  had  little 
sympathy,  and  for  the  frothy  ones  that  not  only  delighted 
many  an  Eastern  dilettante  but  also  marked  the  limit  of 
his  intellectual  research,  the  Range  had  an  unmitigated 
and  robust  contempt. 

The  West  pinned  its  faith  and  its  interest  to  *' facts." 
Incidentally,  the  salient,  important,  controlling  elements 
in  any  matter  of  fact  were  called  the  ^Hrue  facts,"  or  the 
"real  facts,"  while  the  occurrence  or  existence  of  imma- 
terial elements  was  acknowledged  and  dismissed  by  the 
statement:  "That  might  be,"  or  "That  might  be  so." 

Reddy  Rodgers,  a  Gallatin  Valley  hunting-guide,  having, 
in  company  with  a  tenderfoot  sportsman  spent  an  entire 
day  in  unsuccessful  quest  for  game,  came  toward  nightfall 
upon  a  bear.  The  tenderfoot  became  excited,  broke  a 
branch  lying  on  the  ground,  and  the  bear  thus  alarmed  dis- 
appeared forthwith.  Upon  the  men's  return  to  camp  the 
tenderfoot,  when  giving  to  one  of  his  fellow  sportsmen  a 
recital  of  the  event,  described  in  minutest  detail  and  with 
strictest  accuracy  every  happening  before  the  bear  had  been 
sighted,  while  it  remained  in  view,  and  for  some  time  after 
it  had  left.  There  was  not  a  single  statement  that  was  not 
absolutely  truthful.  When  he  had  finished,  Reddy  summed 
up  in  these  words:  "All  that  mought  be  so.  But  the  true 
facts  was.  The  bar  thar.  The  dude  he  stepped  on  a 
stick.     Skiddoo." 

The  West  desired  that  persons,  when  describing  "facts," 
should  do  so  with  definiteness  and  accuracy,  but  it  did  not 


98  THE  COWBOY 

require  that  any  effort  be  made  to  dress  the  presentation  in 
an  artistic  way.  The  West  contained  such  endless  quan- 
tity of  beauty  in  its  natural  scenery,  that,  as  ah-eady  stated, 
whoever  upon  the  Range  hungered  for  the  beautiful  turned 
instinctively  to  nature  and  not  to  art.  The  result  was  that 
the  Cattle  Country  tended  to  ignore  most  of  the  human  at- 
tempts to  create  beauty,  and  so  brought  upon  itself  the 
Easterner's  averment  as  to  lack  of  cultivation. 

The  Westerner,  with  his  methods  of  thinking  and  his  un- 
interrupted opportunities  for  thought,  was  able  in  each 
subject  that  interested  him  to  arrive  ultimately  at  a  clearly 
cut  conclusion,  and  to  hold  in  definite  mental  storage  all 
the  argument  that  had  led  him  to  that  end. 

Along  would  come  an  Eastern  or  Enghsh  tenderfoot,  and, 
in  the  ordinary  course  of  conversation,  one  of  the  Westerner's 
favorite  topics  would  arise.  It  very  likely  would  be  one 
to  which  the  tenderfoot  had  previously  given  Httle  heed, 
perhaps  none  at  all.  The  Westerner  under  such  conditions 
often  had  good  reason  to  think  that  the  tenderfoot  in  his 
discussion  made  a  sorry  presentation  as  compared  with  the 
Westerner's  well-ordered  offerings.  The  difference  in  ex- 
tent of  preparation  suggested  itself  to  nobody,  and  the 
tenderfoot,  himself  chagrined,  was  by  the  Westerner  classed 
as  mentally  his  inferior  and  possible  as  markedly  stupid. 

On  the  other  hand,  was  there  put  forward  a  topic  in  which 
the  tenderfoot  was  well  prepared  and  in  which  the  West- 
erner took  no  interest,  one  of  two  things  would  promptly 
happen.  Either  the  topic  would  be  summarily  changed,  or 
the  Westerner  would  rid  himself  of  an  unwelcome  phase  in 
the  conversation  by  hastily  forming  an  opinion  and  stating 
it  in  very  positive  terms.  He  would  assume  both  that  the 
subject  was  not  worth  his  expenditure  of  thought  and  also 
that  nothing  that  the  tenderfoot  might  say  about  it  would 
have  any  value. 


COWBOY  CHARACTER  99 

The  Easterner  had  his  own  social  customs,  and  these  were 
largely  predicated  on  urban  Ufe.  Practically  none  of  them 
were  compatible  with,  or  were  adjustable  to,  the  style  of 
living  which  conditions  in  the  West  locally  compelled.  And 
yet  the  fact  that  Easterners,  even  when  in  their  Atlantic 
coast  homes,  should  not  attempt  to  follow  Western  stand- 
ards, was  a  bit  complained  of  by  the  Cattle  Country  as 
against  the  East. 

The  Cattle  Country  did  not  resent  the  individual  East- 
erner so  long  as  he  stayed  in  the  West  and  tried  to  fit  into 
the  life.  It  merely  pitied  him  for  his  fancied  total  inefl5- 
ciency.  But  the  Cattle  Country  did  resent,  and  deeply  re- 
sent, the  fact  that  neither  the  man*s  relatives,  his  '^ folks," 
as  the  Range  termed  them,  nor  the  vast  majority  of  all 
Easterners  either  came  to  the  West  or  showed  any  inter- 
est in  that  section.  The  people  of  the  Cattle  Country  were 
aggrieved  at  having  their  own  existence  as  human  beings 
overlooked  and  at  being  abstractly  considered  as  merely 
so  many  annual  pounds  of  wheat,  silver,  gold,  leather,  wool, 
and  meat.  In  other  words,  that  which  the  West  really 
most  resented  was  being  ignored,  and  this  resentment  was 
the  fundamental  motive  for  the  specific  and  affirmatively 
made  complaints  enumerated  above. 

The  Western  skin,  despite  its  sunburn,  was  very  thin 
and  very  easily  hurt. 

The  resentment  was  a  bit  augmented  by  a  secret  dread 
that  adverse  criticism  of  Westerners  might  come  from  the 
Atlantic  coast  when  the  latter  should  eventually  direct 
its  attention  to  the  Cattle  Country.  Previously  and  for 
years,  the  East  had  had  the  same  fear  of  Europe.  In  each 
case,  it  was  the  latent  anxiety  of  a  virile,  youthful  civiUza- 
tion  lest  it  be  judged  severely  by  an  older  people;  and,  in 
each  case,  the  anxiety  came  to  the  surface  in  the  shape  of 
defiant  antipathy.     The  Cattle  Country's  ''tenderfoots" 


100  THE  COWBOY 

and  "effete  East"  spoke  the  same  language  as  did  the  East^s 
prior  railings  against  "effete  monarchies"  and  "worn-out 
Europe." 

But  the  cowboy,  although  he  did  not  understand  the 
Easterners,  although  he  branded  them  as  "effete"  and 
"stuck  up,"  and  very  stupid,  although  he  objected  to  their 
governing  themselves  by  their  own  settled  customs,  this 
last  despite  the  fact  that  he  himself  unconsciously  was  ruled 
by  convention  as  much  as  consciously  were  the  Easterners, 
although  he  ruffled  when  they  ran  counter  to  his  code,  never- 
theless welcomed  them  to  his  country;  and,  if  they  ex- 
pressed true  admiration  for  it  and  fitted  into  it,  he  became 
their  undying  friend. 

The  moment  an  Easterner  settled  in  the  West,  his  sins 
of  birth  were  forgiven  him.  He  was  assumed  to  have  re- 
canted from  his  iniquity,  and  to  have  travelled  in  search 
of  light.  His  new  companions  did  not  arrogate  to  them- 
selves any  idea  that  he  had  sought  to  be  taught  by  them. 
Merely  he  had  come  to  "God's  Country,"  to  learn  from  it 
and  from  all  that  was  in  it  how  contemptible  his  past  had 
been,  how  great  his  then  present  privilege  was. 

Not  even  a  large  minority  of  Westerners  would  themselves 
commit  the  sharp  practices  described  above,  but  to  such 
men  as  were  successful  in  pursuit  of  them  was  extended 
the  admiring  and  well-nigh  unanimous  sympathy  of  the 
Cattle  Country.  However,  these  overreachings  usually  were 
launched  against  only  such  persons  as,  either  not  living  in 
the  West,  were  regarded  as  impersonal  and  hence  as  fair 
targets,  or  else,  residing  in  the  West,  were  generally  dis- 
liked and  so  were  considered  legitimate  victims. 

As  a  whole,  the  matter  represented  principally  a  desire 
to  teach  the  disHked  East  and  England  "another  lesson." 

The  sharp  practices  rarely  were  aired  in  the  courts.  The 
denizens  of  the  Cattle  Country  engaged  in  formal  Htigation 
and  entered  the  courts  only  under  either  one  of  two  condi- 


COWBOY   CHARACTER  lOl 

tions;  i.  e.,  when  they  were  dragged  in  by  some  aggrieved 
tenderfoot  victim  of  an  abortive  local  promotion  scheme, 
or  they,  with  confident  reliance  on  the  bias  of  a  jury  of 
friends,  served  process  on  an  Easterner  or  Englishman. 
The  tenderfoot  victim  rarely  thus  dragged  a  Westerner 
into  court,  because  the  stanch  partisanship  of  the  local 
juries  was  well  advertised. 

Such  disputes  betv/een  Westerners  as  were  not  settled 
by  private  treaty  or  on  occasion  across  a  gun's  sights  were 
quite  apt  to  be  submitted  for  adjustment  to  the  local  sheriff. 
He,  jovial  but  firm,  very  friendly  but  sternly  just,  always 
courageous  and  everywhere  regarded  with  esteem,  arbi- 
trated many  such  contests,  and  his  decisions  had  morally 
the  same  effect  as  they  would  have  had  if  he  had  been  a 
circuit  judge. 

The  cowboy  had  a  very  clearly  defined  regard  for  what 
he  conceived  to  be  the  dignity  of  his  calling,  and  would 
brook  neither  disparagement  of  his  trade  nor  any  act  or 
statement  which  tended  materially  to  behttle  himself.  He 
deeply  resented  seriously  offered  derision. 

Easterners  in  general,  wholly  ignorant  of  the  West, 
thought  the  cowboy  wofuUy  conceited.    He  was  not  so. 

Many  of  his  statements  about  projected  action  may  have 
sounded  boastful  to  such  as  were  unacquainted  with  his 
capabilities,  but  these  statements  usually  were  launched 
as  matter-of-fact  announcements  of  readily  performable 
plans.  When  the  puncher  said  that  he  was  about  to  ride 
what  seemed  to  his  tenderfoot  auditors  an  unconscionable 
distance,  he  not  only  was  going  to  do  so,  but  doubtless  had 
done  so  many  times  before. 

Admittedly  the  cowboy  was  vain  in  a  feminine  way  and 
displayed  his  vanity  with  boylike  naivete,  but  his  apparent 
blatancy  was  not  a  direct  bragging  about  himself.  It  was 
enthusiastic  advocacy  of  his  Cattle  Country  and  of  the 
people  whom  he  loved.    That  he  might  be  included  among 


102        i. .  1 .' * .  ^ . .'  THE  COWBOY 

those  people  by  his  auditors  was  of  course  no  drawback. 
But  really  the  country  and  the  people  came  first;  and, 
when  he  thought  of  them,  he  instinctively  gambolled  like 
a  lamb. 


CHAPTER  V 
WHAT  THE  COWBOY  WORE 

WHAT  THE  COWBOY  WORE  AND  WHT  HE  WORE  IT — HAT,  ITS  FORM,  DECO- 
RATION, USES  AND  NAMES — HANDKERCHIEF,  ITS  COLOR  AND  USE — SHIRT — 
collar's  ABSENCE — GARTERS — COAT  AND  TROUSERS — BELT — VEST — "MAK- 
INGS"— "natural  curiosities" — MATCHES — FANCY  VEST — OVERCOAT — 
GLOVES — CUFFS — BOOTS — SPURS — "  CHAPS  " — FURS — "  WAR  PAINT  " — HAIR 
CHAIN — OTHER  RANCHMEN'S  RAIMENT 

The  clothing  worn  by  members  of  the  trade  was  distinc- 
tive. Although  picturesque,  it  was  worn  not  for  the  pro- 
duction of  this  effect,  but  solely  because  it  was  the  dress 
best  suited  to  the  work  in  hand.  Inasmuch  as  it  was  se- 
lected with  view  only  to  comfort  and  convenience,  it  knew 
nothing  of  variable  fashion  and  suffered  from  no  change  in 
style. 

It,  however,  was  subject,  as  were  many  of  the  cowboys* 
customs,  to  differences  in  form  according  as  the  locality 
involved  was  the  Northwest  or  the  Southwest.  The  Une 
of  demarcation  between  these  sections,  though  never  very 
clearly  defined,  was  in  effect  an  imaginary  westward  ex- 
tension of  Mason  and  Dixon^s  Line,  this  extension  zigzag- 
ging a  bit  in  some  places. 

The  hat  was,  in  material,  of  smooth,  soft  felt;  and,  in  color, 
dove-gray,  less  often  hght  brown,  occasionally  black.  It 
had  a  cylindrical  crown  seven  inches  or  more  in  height, 
and  a  flat  brim  so  wide  as  to  overtop  its  wearer^s  shoulders. 
The  brim  might  or  might  not  be  edged  with  braid,  which, 
if  it  appeared,  was  silken  and  was  of  the  same  color  as  the 
felt.  In  the  Southwest,  the  crown  was  left  at  its  full  height, 
but  its  circumference  above  the  summit  of  the  wearer^ s 
head  was  contracted  by  three  or,  more  commonly,  four,  ver- 

103 


104  THE  COWBOY 

tical,  equidistant  dents,  the  whole  resembling  a  mountain 
from  whose  sharp  peak  descended  three  or  four  deep  gullies. 
In  the  Northwest,  the  crown  was  left  flat  on  top,  but  was 
so  far  telescoped  by  a  pleat  as  to  remain  but  approximately 
two  and  a  half  inches  high. 

Few  men  of  either  section  creased  their  hats  in  the  manner 
of  the  other.  A  denizen  of  the  Northwest  appearing  in  a  high- 
crowned  hat  was  supposed  to  be  putting  on  airs,  and  was 
subject  openly  to  be  accused  of  '^chucking  the  Rio,^^  ver- 
nacular for  affecting  the  manners  of  the  Southwesterners, 
whose  dominant  river  was  the  Rio  Grande.  Present-day 
Northwestemers,  faithless  to  this  tradition,  have  foresworn 
the  low  crown  and  assumed  the  peak.  The  United  States 
War  Department  recently  has  flown  into  the  face  of  history 
by  formally  designating  the  dented  high  peak  as  the  Mon- 
tana poke. 

Around  the  crown,  just  above  the  brim  and  for  the  pur- 
pose of  regulating  the  fit  of  the  hat,  ran  a  belt,  which  was 
adjustable  as  to  length.  The  belt  was  made  usually  of 
leather,  but,  particularly  in  the  Southwest,  occasionally  of 
woven  silver  or  gold  wire.  The  belt,  if  of  leather,  commonly 
was  studded  with  ornamental  nails,  or,  did  the  owner^s 
purse  permit,  with  '' conchas,*'  which  were  flat  metal  plates, 
usually  circular,  generally  of  silver,  in  rare  instances  of 
gold,  in  much  rarer  instances  set  with  jewels.  Rattlesnake's 
rattles,  gold  nuggets,  or  other  showy  curiosities  not  infre- 
quently adorned  the  leather.  For  leather,  some  men  sub- 
stituted the  skin  of  a  rattlesnake. 

From  either  side  of  the  brim  at  its  inner  edge,  depended 
a  buckskin  thong;  these  two  thongs,  sometimes  known  as 
"bonnet  strings,"  being  tied  together  and  so  forming  a 
guard,  which,  during  rapid  riding  or  in  windy  weather,  was 
pushed  under  the  base  of  the  skull,  but  which  at  other  times 
was  thrust  inside  the  hat. 

Did  the  brim  sag  through  age  or  unduly  flop,  it  could 


WHAT  THE  COWBOY  WORE  105 

be  rectified  by  cutting,  near  its  outer  edge,  a  row  of  slits  and 
threading  through  them  a  strip  of  buckskin. 

The  wide  brim  of  the  hat  was  not  for  appearance's  sake. 
It  was  for  use.  It  defended  from  a  burning  sun  and  shaded 
the  eyes  under  any  conditions,  particularly  when  clearness 
of  vision  was  vital  to  a  man  awake  or  shelter  was  desirable 
for  one  asleep.  In  rainy  weather  it  served  as  an  umbrella. 
The  brim,  when  grasped  between  the  thumb  and  fingers 
and  bent  into  a  trough,  was  on  its  upper  surface  the  only 
drinking-cup  of  the  outdoors;  when  pulled  down  and  tied 
over  the  ears,  it  gave  complete  protection  from  frost-bite. 
It  fanned  into  activity  every  camp-fire  started  in  the  open, 
and  enlarged  the  carrying  capacity  of  the  hat  when  used 
as  a  pail  to  transport  water  for  extinguishing  embers.  The 
broad  hat  swung  to  right  or  left  of  the  body  or  overhead 
provided  conspicuous  means  of  signalling;  and,  when  shoved 
between  one's  hip  or  shoulder  and  the  hard  ground,  it 
sometimes  hastened  the  arrival  of  a  nap.  Folded,  it  made 
a  comfortable  pillow.  No  narrow-brimmed  creation  could 
have  had  so  many  functions. 

A  Philadelphian  manufacturer  virtually  monopolized  the 
making  of  at  least  the  better  grades;  and,  from  his  name, 
every  broad-brimmed  head  covering  was  apt  everywhere 
slangily  to  be  designated  as  a  *' Stetson,"  instead  of  by  either 
one  of  its  two  legitimate  and  interchangeable  titles  of  ''hat'' 
and  ''sombrero."  While  these  two  legitimate  titles  were 
interchangeable  throughout  the  West,  the  Northwest  leaned 
toward  "hat,"  the  Southwest  toward  "sombrero." 

There  were  slang  names  other  than  the  one  just  men- 
tioned, but  none  that  had  more  than  infrequent  usage. 
These  other  names  included  "lid,"  "war-bonnet,"  "conk 
cover,"  "hair  case,"  and  a  host  of  like  inventions. 

Southwesterners  often  wore,  in  lieu  of  the  hat  already 
described,  the  real  sombrero  of  Mexico,  with  its  high  crown 
either  conical  or  cyhndrical,  its  brim  saucer-shaped,  and 


106  THE  COWBOY 

its  shaggy  surface  of  plush,  frequently  embroidered  with 
gold  or  silver  thread.  No  North  westerner  ventured,  while 
in  his  home  country,  to  ''chuck  the  Rio"  to  the  extent  of 
such  a  head-gear. 

Most  of  these  sombreros,  though  reaching  the  American 
wearer  by  the  route  of  importation  from  Mexico,  had  been 
made  in  Philadelphia  by  the  very  manufacturer  who  is 
mentioned  above. 

Along  the  Mexican  border,  some  men,  principally 
"Greasers,''  wore  the  huge  straw  hats  of  Mexico;  but  these 
head  coverings  were  not  often  assumed  by  Americans,  for 
there  was  a  suggestion  of  peonage  in  the  straw. 

Many  punchers  had  such  vanity  as  to  their  hats  that 
the  makers  gave,  in  the  so-called  ''feather-weight"  quality, 
a  felt  far  better  than  that  used  in  the  shapes  offered  to  city 
folk,  and  so  fine  as  to  roll  up  almost  as  would  a  handker- 
chief, a  felt  so  costly  that  only  ranchmen  would  pay  its 
price,  and  thus  they  alone  made  use  of  it.  Not  infrequently 
a  puncher  spent  from  two  to  six  months'  wages  for  his  hat 
or  sombrero  and  its  ornamental  belt. 

Those  hats  and  sombreros,  while  by  Western  classifica- 
tion "soft  hats,"  should  not  be  confused  with  the  unstif- 
fened,  cheap  felt  hats  worn  by  city-dwellers;  for  these  latter 
head  coverings,  though  admittedly  "soft,"  were  subject  to 
the  contemptuous  accusation  of  being  mere  "wool  hats." 
Furthermore  the  Range  knew  that  the  city-dwellers  wore 
also  "hard"  or  "hard-boiled"  hats,  subdivided  into  the 
two  classes  of,  first,  "derby"  or  "pot"  and,  second,  "plug" 
or  "stovepipe";  but  no  "hard  hat"  attempted,  unless  ac- 
companied by  a  tenderfoot,  to  appear  within  the  Cattle 
Country. 

The  handkerchief  which  encircled  every  cowboy's  neck 
was  intended  as  a  mask  for  occasional  use,  and  not  as  an 
article  of  dress. 

This  handkerchief,  diagonally  folded  and  with  its  two 


WHAT  THE  COWBOY  WORE  107 

thus  most  widely  separated  corners  fastened  together  by  a 
square  knot,  ordinarily  hung  loosely  about  the  base  of  the 
wearer^s  neck;  but,  as  the  wearer  rode  in  behind  a  bunch 
of  moving  live  stock,  the  still  knotted  handkerchief's  broad- 
est part  was  pulled  up  over  the  wearer's  mouth  and  nose. 
The  mask  thus  formed  eliminated  the  otherwise  suffocating 
dust  and  made  breathing  possible.  It  offered  relatively  hke 
protection  against  stinging  sleet  and  freezing  wind. 

The  cowboy  did  not  dare  risk  being  without  this  vitally 
necessary  mask  when  need  for  it  should  come,  and  so  he 
ever  kept  it  on  the  safest  peg  he  knew;  under  his  chin. 

In  color  and  material  the  handkerchief,  though  some- 
times of  silk,  usually  was  of  red  bandanna  cotton;  of  red, 
not  because  the  puncher  affirmatively  demanded  it,  but 
because  ordinarily  that  was  the  only  color  other  than  white 
obtainable  from  the  local  shopkeepers.  The  shopping  cow- 
boy was  very  tolerant  save  in  his  selection  of  hats,  chaps, 
spurs,  guns,  ropes,  and  saddles. 

The  handkerchief-selling  shopkeeper  in  his  own  turn  had 
followed  the  line  of  least  resistance;  and,  being  subject  to 
no  special  demand  for  green,  blue,  or  whatever,  had  forborne 
to  make  among  the  manufacturers  a  hunt  for  varied  colors, 
and  had  stocked  himself  with  an  article  which  he  readily 
could  obtain,  the  red  bandanna. 

Thanks  to  the  requirements  of  the  Southern  negro,  this 
article  constantly  was  manufactured.  Thus  the  '^Aunt 
Dinahs"  of  the  Southern  kitchens  unwittingly  dictated  as 
to  what  the  cowboy  of  the  West  should  hang  about  his  neck. 

A  relatively  similar  reason  foisted  the  Texan  heraldic 
star  upon  the  saddles,  bridles,  chaps,  and  boots  of  many  of 
the  Northwesterners.  The  Texans,  with  their  intense  State 
pride,  asked  for  this  adornment,  and  the  manufacturers, 
putting  it  on  the  Texans'  accoutrements,  standardized  out- 
put, and  starred  the  equipment  of  almost  everybody  who 
did  not  object. 


108  THE  COWBOY 

White  handkerchiefs  were  eschewed  by  many  punchers, 
because  these  handkerchiefs,  when  clean,  reflected  light; 
and  thus  sometimes,  upon  the  Range,  called  attention  to 
their  wearers  when  the  latter  wished  to  avoid  notice  by 
other  people  or  by  animals.  Moreover  white  soon  so  suffered 
from  dust  as  to  appear  unpleasantly  soiled. 

There  was  nothing  peculiar  about  the  shirt  beyond  that 
it  was  always  of  cotton  or  wool,  always  was  collarless  and 
starchless  (not  '^boiled,"  ''biled,"  or  ^^ bald-faced");  and, 
though  of  any  checked  or  striped  design  or  solid  color,  al- 
most never  was  red.  That  latter  tone  was  reputed  to  go 
badly  among  the  cattle,  and,  in  any  event,  belonged  to  the 
miners.  Furthermore,  the  puncher's  taste  in  colors  was  in 
the  main  quite  subdued. 

Collars  were  unknown.  A  white  one  starched  would 
have  wrecked  its  wearer's  social  position.  This  denying 
the  ranchman  a  white  collar  did  not  withhold  it  from  such 
of  the  professional  gamblers  as  cared  to  wear  it.  A  *Hurn- 
down"  collar  of  celluloid  (of  paper  in  the  early  years),  pro- 
vided the  wearer's  handkerchief  and  salivary  glands  occa- 
sionally functioned  in  unison,  would  make  the  gambler 
showily  immaculate,  and  so  would  advertise  apparent  pros- 
perity. 

Each  of  the  cowboy's  shirt-sleeves  customarily  was  drawn 
in  above  the  elbow  by  a  garter,  which  was  of  either  twisted 
wire  or  of  elastic  webbing,  and  frequently,  and  as  an  excep- 
tion to  the  general  demureness  of  sartorial  tone,  was  brightly 
colored,  crude  shades  of  pink  or  blue  being  much  in  favor. 

Nor  was  there  anything  distinctive  about  the  coat  and 
trousers,  which  were  woollen  and,  in  cut,  of  the  sack-suit 
variety;  then,  as  now,  the  usual  garb  of  American  men,  un- 
less one  regards  as  distinctive  the  fact  that  almost  univer- 
sally these  garments  were  sombre  in  hue. 

Possibly  this  predilection  for  black  and  darkest  shades 
found  its  source  in  Texas  and  Missouri,  where  the  frock 


WHAT  THE  COWBOY  WORE  109 

coat,  string  tie,  and  slouch  hat  of  the  Southern  ''colonel" 
had  ever  been  of  black. 

However,  the  cowboy  sometimes  substituted  for  his 
woollen  coat  one  of  similar  cut,  but  made  of  either  brown 
canvas  or  black  or  brown  leather. 

Denim  overalls  were  considered  beneath  the  dignity  of 
riders,  and  were  left  to  wearing  by  the  farmers,  the  towns- 
folk, and  the  subordinate  employees  of  the  ranches. 

The  puncher's  trousers,  universally  called  ''pants,"  stayed 
in  place  largely  through  luck,  because  the  puncher  both 
avoided  "galluses,"  the  suspenders  of  the  tenderfoot,  as 
tending  to  bind  the  shoulders,  and  also  was  wary  of  sup- 
porting belts,  as  the  latter,  if  drawn  at  all  tightly,  were 
conducive  to  hernia  when  one's  horse  was  pitching.  How- 
ever, if  the  puncher  were  of  Mexican  blood,  he  would  gird 
himseK  with  a  sash  of  red  or  green  silk. 

In  the  mending  of  rents  the  safety-pin  often  functioned 
in  lieu  of  thread  and  needle. 

The  pistol's  belt,  wide  and  looped  for  extra  cartridges, 
ever  loosely  sagged,  and  so  threw  the  weapon's  weight  upon 
the  thigh  instead  of  placing  strain  upon  the  abdomen. 

When  possible  the  cowboy  went  coatless,  but  he  always 
wore  a  vest.  The  coat  was  arrestive  to  ease  of  motion.  Also 
it  somewhat  invited  perspiration,  and  perspiration  for  a 
man  condemned  to  remain  out  of  doors  day  and  night  in 
a  country  of  cold  winds  was  uncomfortable,  if  not  danger- 
ous. 

In  every-day  life  the  vest  was  of  ordinary,  civilian  type, 
and  usually  was  left  unbuttoned.  It  was  worn,  not  as  a 
piece  of  clothing,  but  solely  because  its  outside  pockets 
gave  handy  storage  not  only  to  matches  but  also  to  "mak- 
ings," which  last-mentioned  articles  were  cigarette  papers 
and  a  bag  of  "Bull  Durham"  tobacco. 

Mixed  in  with  these  necessaries  were,  in  all  probability, 
a  gold  nugget,  an  Indian  arrow-head,  or  an  "elk  tush"  or 


110  THE  COWBOY 

two.  These  "tushes,"  the  canine  teeth  from  the  wapiti's 
upper  jaw,  now  widely  known  as  insignia  of  a  great  secret 
order,  were  in  the  West  of  years  ago  equally  well  known  as 
the  most  treasured  jewels  of  the  Indian  squaw.  Every  cow- 
boy acquired  all  the  ''tushes"  he  conveniently  could,  doing 
so  usually  with  no  purpose  of  ultimate  trade  with  the  In- 
dians, but  only  because  of  a  vague,  boyUke  idea  that  some- 
how, some  day,  they  might  be  useful.  In  reality,  as  he  got 
them  he  gave  them  to  Eastern  souvenir  hunters,  as  he  also 
gave  the  nuggets  and  the  arrow-heads. 

This  naive  predilection  for  so-called  ''natural  curiosities" 
went  hand  in  hand  with  desire  to  benefit  either  science  or 
the  federal  government;  was  shared,  in  this  public-spirited 
form,  with  the  scouts  and  hunters,  and  worked  for  the  in- 
convenience of  the  receiving  clerks  at  the  Smithsonian  In- 
stitution. There  flowed,  for  years,  to  the  door  of  the  latter 's 
museum  and  from  out  of  the  West  a  steady  stream  of  use- 
less bones,  horns,  skins,  crystals,  pieces  of  wood,  and  other 
things,  all  enthusiastically  started  on  their  journeys  and 
most  of  them  ultimately  and  properly  landing  on  the  scrap- 
heap  at  Washington. 

Men  would  undergo  great  personal  risks  to  obtain  "fine 
specimens." 

The  prevalent  desire  to  patronize  "The  Smithsonian" 
was  exemplified  in  the  experience  of  two  Northwestern 
scouts  who  had  the  same  beneficent  attitude  toward  science 
as  had  the  punchers. 

The  Crow  Indians  had  "jumped"  their  reservation  and 
were  on  the  war-path.  They  were  being  trailed  by  Taze- 
well Woody  and  James  Dewing,  Woody  riding  a  horse, 
Dewing  a  mule. 

These  scouts  discovered  an  enormous  bald  eagle,  which, 
feeding  at  a  carcass,  was  so  gorged  as  to  be  helpless.  The 
tremendous  size  of  the  bird  suggested  immediately  that 
Washington  was  in  great  need  of  this  fine  specimen,  so  a 


WHAT  THE  COWBOY  WORE  111 

heavy  stick  was  brought  down  on  the  national  emblem^s 
neck,  and  the  latter's  immediate  owner  was  then  pronounced 
to  be  dead.  The  eagle's  legs  were  lashed  to  the  back  of 
Dewing's  saddle,  while  a  thong  held  in  place  the  folded 
wings  of  the  hanging  bird. 

The  men  mounted,  and  forthwith  a  war  party  broke  from 
cover  and  attacked  them.  The  scouts  spurred  their  mounts 
into  a  retreat,  but  were  rapidly  being  overhauled  by  the 
Indians,  whose  ponies  were  fleeter  than  Dewing' s  mule. 
Meanwhile  shots  were  flying. 

Just  as  it  began  to  look  hopeless  for  the  two  whites,  there 
happened  simultaneously  three  things:  First,  a  bullet  struck 
the  ground  in  front  of  the  galloping  mule,  raised  a  flurry 
of  dust,  and  caused  the  brute  to  spin  around  and  to  hurry 
toward  the  foe.  Second,  a  bullet  cut  the  thong  which  had 
bound  the  eagle's  wings.  Third,  the  eagle  came  to  life,  and, 
though  with  legs  still  fastened  to  the  saddle,  stood  erect. 

Then  the  charge  completely  reversed  its  direction  and 
appearance.  It  had  been  to  both  whites  and  Reds  a  hun- 
dred armed  warriors  chasing  two  helpless  victims.  Now 
it  seemed  to  the  Reds  a  pursuing  demon  hastening  to  de- 
stroy a  fleeing  Indian  tribe.  What  Woody  witnessed  was 
a  screaming  eagle  with  talons  imbedded  in  the  rump  of  a 
crazed  mule,  with  wings  outspread  and  beating  the  air, 
and  with  beak  digging,  amid  the  screams,  into  uncomfortable 
Dewing's  back,  while  the  mule  rushed  after  the  Indians, 
intermittently  pausing  to  buck  and  bray,  Dewing  himself 
meanwhile  shouting,  cursing,  and  shooting. 

The  matches  in  the  cowboy's  pocket,  like  all  matches  on 
the  Range,  were  in  thin  sheets  like  coarsely  toothed  combs. 
They  had  small  brown  or  blue  heads  that  were  slow  to  start 
a  blaze,  and,  for  some  time  after  striking,  merely  bubbled 
and  emitted  strong  fxunes  of  sulphur.  To  obtain  a  light, 
the  West  tightened  its  trousers  by  raising  its  right  knee,  and 
then  drew  the  match  across  the  trouser's  seat. 


112  THE  COWBOY 

There  has  been  described  the  vest  of  every  day,  but  there 
were  occasional  days  which  were  not  Uke  every  day,  the 
occasional  days  when  the  puncher  went  in  state  either  to 
town  or  to  call  upon  his  lady-love.  On  these  infrequent 
and  important  errands,  he  was  fain  to  put  on  a  waistcoat 
which  was  specially  manufactured  for  the  Western  trade, 
and  which,  though  normal  in  size  and  shape,  was  monu- 
mental in  appearance.  Plush  or  shaggy  woollen  material 
was  prey  to  the  dyer's  brutality,  and  on  the  cowboy's  manly 
but  innocent  front  the  Aurora  Borealis,  and  the  artist's 
paint-box  met  their  chromatic  rival.  A  man  of  modest 
taste,  and  such  were  the  majority  of  the  punchers,  was  con- 
tent with  brown  plush  edged  with  wide,  black  braid.  But 
what  was  such  passive  pleasure  as  compared  with  the  bounc- 
ing gladness  which  another  and  more  primitive  being  de- 
rived from  a  still  well-remembered  vest  of  brilHant  purple 
checker-boarded  in  pink  and  green? 

The  overcoat  was  of  canvas,  light  brown  in  color,  with 
skirts  to  the  knee,  was  blanket-lined,  and,  to  make  it  wholly 
wind-proof,  commonly  received  an  exterior  coat  of  paint; 
which  latter  process  often  successfully  invited  the  sketch- 
ing of  the  owner's  brand  upon  the  freshly  covered  surface. 

All  men  donned  gloves  in  cold  weather;  this,  of  course,  to 
keep  the  hands  warm.  In  warm  weather  most  men  wore 
gloves  when  roping,  this  to  prevent  burns  or  blisters  from 
the  hurrying  lariat,  and  wore  them  also  when  riding  buck- 
ing horses,  this  to  avoid  manual  injury.  But  some  men, 
regardless  of  temperature  or  the  nature  of  their  work,  wore 
gloves  all  the  waking  hours.  This  latter  habit,  while  an 
affectation,  did  not  necessarily  indicate  effeminacy.  It 
rather  was  an  expression  of  vanity,  and  permitted  the  wearer 
tacitly  but  conspicuously  to  advertise  that  his  riding  and 
roping  were  so  excellent  as  to  excuse  him  from  all  other 
tasks.  The  hands  of  such  men  frequently  were  as  white 
and  soft  as  those  of  a  young  girl. 


WHAT  THE  COWBOY  WORE  113 

The  ungloved  fraternity,  being  without  excuse  for  ab- 
sence from  the  wood-pile,  resented  the  fragile  hands,  though 
not  their  owners,  and  to  visitors  gruntingly  descanted  on 
the  theme  that  it  was  ''cheaper  to  grow  skin  than  to  buy  it." 

The  gloves  were  sometimes  of  horse-hide  or  smooth-sur- 
faced leather,  but  usually  were  of  buckskin  of  the  best  qual- 
ity. Whatever  the  material,  they  customarily  were  in  color 
yellow,  gray,  or  a  greenish  or  creamy  white,  though  brown 
was  not  infrequent. 

They  had  to  be  of  good  quality,  lest  they  stiffen  after  a 
wetting;  for  an  unduly  stiff  glove  well  might  misdirect  a 
lariat  throw,  or  even  cause  a  man  to  miss  his  hold  upon  the 
saddle  horn  when  he  essayed  to  mount  a  plunging  horse. 

Practically  all  gloves  had  flaring  gantlets  of  generous 
size,  five  inches  or  so  in  both  depth  and  maximum  width, 
the  gantlets  commonly  being  embroidered  with  silken 
thread  or  with  thin  wire  of  silver  or  brass,  and  being  edged 
with  a  deep  leathern  or  buckskin  fringe  along  the  little-finger 
side.  The  designs  for  such  embroidery  followed  principally 
geometrical  forms,  and  very  often  included  a  spread  eagle 
or  the  Texan  heraldic  star. 

Conchas  not  infrequently  augmented  the  decoration. 

WTien  the  thermometer  was  very  low,  either  gloves  or  mit- 
tens of  knitted  wool  or  of  fur  made  their  appearance. 

Almost  always  in  the  absence  of  gloves,  and  frequently 
when  gloves  were  present,  men  wore  tightly  fitting  brown 
or  black,  stiff,  leathern  cuffs,  which  extended  backward 
for  four  or  five  inches  from  the  wearer's  wrist  joint,  were 
adjustable  by  buckled  straps,  protected  the  wrists,  and 
held  the  sleeves  in  pound. 

Although  upon  the  Range  any  one  not  professing  to  be 
a  puncher  incased  his  feet  in  whatever  form  of  leather  cov- 
ering he  preferred,  all  cowboys  wore  the  black,  high-topped, 
high-heeled  boots  typical  of  the  craft. 

These  boots  had  vamps  of  the  best  quality  of  pliable, 


114  THE  COWBOY 

thin  leather,  and  legs  of  either  like  material  or  finest  kid. 
The  vamps  fitted  tightly  around  the  instep,  and  thus  gave 
to  the  boot  its  principal  hold,  for  there  were  no  lacings, 
and  the  legs  were  quite  loose  about  the  wearer's  entrousered 
calf.  The  boots'  legs,  coming  well  up  toward  the  wearer's 
knees,  usually  ended  in  a  horizontal  line,  but  sometimes 
were  so  cut  as  to  rise  an  inch  or  so  higher  at  the  front  than 
at  the  back.  The  legs  were  prone  to  show  much  fancy 
stitching.  This  was  of  the  quilting  pattern,  when,  as  was 
often  the  case,  thin  padding  was  inserted  for  protective 
purposes. 

A  concha  or  an  inlay  of  a  bit  of  colored  leather  might 
appear  at  the  front  of  each  boot-leg  at  its  top. 

These  tall  legs  shielded  against  rain,  and  supplemented 
the  protection  which  was  furnished  by  the  leathern  overalls 
or  ^'chaparejos." 

The  boots'  heels,  two  inches  in  height,  were  vertical  at 
the  front,  and  were  in  length  and  breadth  much  smaller 
at  the  bottom  than  at  the  top. 

The  tall  heel,  highly  arching  the  wearer's  instep,  insured, 
as  did  the  elimination  of  all  projections,  outstanding  nails, 
and  square  corners  from  the  sole,  against  the  wearer's  foot 
slipping  through  the  stirrup  or  being  entangled  in  it.  The 
tall  heel  also  so  moulded  the  shod  foot  that  the  latter  auto- 
matically took  in  the  stirrup  such  position  as  brought  the 
leg  above  it  into  proper  fitting  with  the  saddle's  numerous 
curves.  The  heel's  height  and  peg-like  shape  together  gave 
effective  anchorage  to  the  wearer  when  he  threw  his  lariat 
afoot,  instead  of  from  his  horse's  back. 

The  sole  usually  was  quite  thin,  this  to  grant  to  the  wearer 
a  semiprehensile  ^^feel  of  the  stirrup."  To  these  necessary 
attributes,  the  vanity  of  many  a  rider  added  another  and 
uncomfortable  one,  tight  fit;  and  throughout  the  Range 
unduly  cramped  toes  appeared  in  conjunction  with  the  en- 
forced, highly  arched  insteps. 


WHAT  THE  COWBOY  WORE  115 

The  conventions  of  Range  society  permitted  to  the  buck- 
aroo  at  any  formal  function  no  foot-gear  other  than  this 
riding-boot.  It  was  as  obligatory  for  him  at  a  dance  as  it 
was  useful  to  him  when  ahorse. 

The  puncher  with  vanity  for  his  tight,  thin  boots,  and 
with  contempt  for  the  heavily  soled  foot  coverings  of  East- 
erners, ''put  his  feet  into  decent  boots,  and  not  into  entire 
cows." 

In  very  cold  weather,  this  boot  sometimes  gave  way  to 
one  of  felt  or  to  the  ordinary  Eastern  ''arctic"  overshoe 
worn  over  a  "German  sock,"  this  last  a  knee-high  stocking 
of  thick  shoddy.  Save  under  such  frigid  conditions  and 
save  also  when  the  puncher  was  in  bed,  his  feet  were  ever 
in  his  leathern  boots. 

Spurs  were  a  necessary  implement  when  upon  the  horse, 
and  a  social  requirement  when  off  its  back.  One,  when  in 
public,  would  as  readily  omit  his  trousers  as  his  spurs. 

The  spurs  were  of  a  build  far  heavier  than  those  of  more 
effete  sections  of  the  country.  Their  rowels  were  very  blunt, 
since  they  were  intended  as  much  for  a  means  of  chnging 
to  a  bucking  horse  as  for  an  instrument  of  pimishment. 
This  assistance  to  chnging  was  augmented  in  many  spurs 
by  adding,  to  the  frame  of  the  spur,  a  blunt-nosed,  up-curved 
piece,  the  "buck  hook,"  which  rose  behind  the  rider^s  heel, 
and  which  it  was  reassuring  to  engage  or  "lock"  in  the  cinch 
or  in  the  side  of  a  plunging  horse.  A  rider,  intending  to 
lock  his  spurs,  usually  first  wired  or  jammed  their  wheels 
so  as  to  prevent  their  revolving.  Ordinarily,  the  rowels 
were  haK  an  inch  in  length,  the  wheel  of  which  they  formed 
the  spokes  being  sHghtly  larger  in  diameter  than  an  Amer- 
ican, present-day,  twenty-five-cent  piece;  but  spurs  im- 
ported from  Mexico,  and  having  two-and-a-haff-inch  wheels 
with  rowels  of  corresponding  length,  frequently  were  used 
in  the  Southwest  as  a  matter  of  course,  in  the  Northwest 
as  an  advertisement  of  distant  travel. 


116  THE  COWBOY 

Each  spur,  or  '' grappling-iron,"  as  slang  often  dubbed  it, 
was  kept  in  place  both  by  two  chains  passing  under  the 
wearer's  instep  and  also  by  a  "spur-leather,''  which  last- 
mentioned  object  was  a  broad,  crescentic  shield  of  leather 
laid  over  the  instep.  This  spur-leather  tended  as  well  to 
protect  the  ankle  from  chafing,  and  incidentally  was  usually 
decorated  by  a  concha  and  stamped  with  intricate  designs. 

The  shank  of  almost  every  spur  turned  downward,  thus 
allowing  the  buck  hook,  if  there  were  one,  to  catch  without 
interference  by  the  rowels,  and  also  permitting  the  wheel, 
when  the  rider  was  afoot,  to  roll  noisily  along  the  ground. 
This  noise  frequently  was  increased  by  disconnecting  from 
the  spur  one  of  the  two  chains  at  one  of  its  ends  and  allowing 
it  to  drag,  and  also  by  the  addition  of  "danglers."  Danglers 
were  inch-long,  pear-shaped  pendants  loosely  hanging  irom 
the  end  of  the  wheel's  axle. 

A  cowboy  moving  across  a  board  floor  suggested  the 
transit  of  a  knight  in  armor.  This  purposely  created  jangle 
fought  loneliness  when  one  was  completely  isolated,  and 
was  not  abhorrent  in  public,  even  though  it  might  announce 
the  presence  of  a  noted  man. 

Not  more  speciahzed  than  the  spurs  but  more  conspicuous 
were  the  "chaparejos,"  universally  called  "chaps."  They 
were  skeleton  overalls  worn  primarily  as  armor  to  protect 
a  rider's  legs  from  injury  when  he  was  thrown  or  when  his 
horse  fell  upon  him,  carried  him  through  sage-brush,  cactus, 
or  chaparral,  pushed  him  against  either  a  fence  or  another 
animal,  or  attempted  to  bite;  but  also  they  were  proof 
against  both  rain  and  cold  wind. 

Take  a  pair  of  long  trousers  of  the  city,  cut  away  the 
seat,  sever  the  seam  between  the  legs,  and  fasten  to  a  broad 
belt  buckled  at  the  wearer's  back  as  much  of  the  two  legs 
as  is  thus  left.  Then  you  have  a  pattern  for  a  pair  of 
chaps.  Reproduce  your  pattern  in  either  dehaired,  heavy 
leather,  preferably  brown,  but  black  if  you  must,  or  else 


WHAT  THE  COWBOY  WORE  117 

in  a  shaggy  skin  of  a  bear,  wolf,  dog,  goat,  or  sheep,  and 
you  have  the  real  article.  You  must,  of  course,  make 
your  pattern  very  loosely  fitting,  have  on  the  length  of  ea,ch 
leg  but  a  single  seam,  and  that  at  the  rear,  and  do  a  bit  of 
shaping  at  the  knee.  Should  you  employ  dehaired  leather, 
so  cut  it  that  long  fringe  will  hang  from  the  leg  seam,  and 
you  might  well  cover  this  seam  with  a  wide  strip  of  white 
buckskin.  You  will  hurt  nobody^s  feelings  should  you 
stamp  the  leather  here  and  there  with  frontier  animals  or 
with  women's  heads,  or  all  over  in  tiny  checker-board,  or 
should  you  stud  the  belt  with  conchas.  In  so  doing  you 
will  be  no  inventor,  but  merely  a  follower  of  custom. 

The  long  hair  or  wool  upon  a  pair  of  shaggy  chaps  repre- 
sented not  so  much  artistic  preference  as  it  did  judgment 
that  thereby  protection  would  be  increased.  Naked  leather 
was  not  oversoft  under  a  prone  horse,  and  could  not  be 
rehed  upon  to  withstand  the  stab  of  either  the  yucca's 
pointed  leaves  or  the  spines  of  the  tall  cacti. 

The  cowboy  wore  chaps  when  riding  and  also  when  either 
within  the  confines  of  a  settlement  or  in  the  presence  of 
womankind.  Chaps  and  his  fancy  vest,  if  he  had  the  latter, 
were,  in  combination  with  his  gun  and  spurs,  his  ''best  Sun- 
day-go-to-meeting clothes,"  or  what  he  called  his  ''full  war- 
paint." When  there  was  no  riding  to  be  done,  no  social 
convention  to  fulfil,  or  there  were  neither  jealousies  to  ex- 
cite nor  hearts  to  conquer,  the  chaps,  unless  their  owner 
was  either  a  slave  to  habit  or  very  vain,  often  hung  from 
a  nail.  They  were  heavy  and,  for  a  pedestrian,  quite  un- 
comfortable. 

"Hung  from  a  nail,"  to  be  truthful,  is  poetic  license  for 
"thrown  on  the  floor."  The  Cattle  Country,  thoroughly 
masculine,  "hung  its  clothes  on  the  floor,  so  they  couldn't 
fall  down  and  get  lost."  Only  saddles,  bridles,  lariats,  and 
firearms  received  considerate  care. 

Fur  coat  and  cap  for  winter  use,  of  buffalo  skin  in  earlier 


118  THE  COWBOY 

days  or  wolf  pelt  in  later  times,  were  regularly  worn  in  cold 
climates,  but  were  distinguishing  not  of  the  vocation  but 
of  the  temperature.  Generally  they  were  not  owned  by 
the  cowboy,  but  were  loaned  to  him  by  his  employer. 

The  conditions  which  called  forth  the  furs  often  com- 
pelled a  cowboy,  as  a  preventative  of  snow  blindness,  to 
"wear  war-paint  on  his  face,"  that  is,  to  daub  below  his 
eyes  and  upon  his  cheek  bones  a  mixture  of  soot  and  grease. 
This  made  him  look,  as  Ed  Johnson  said,  like  a  "grief- 
stricken  Venus." 

Lastly  and  affectionately  is  recalled  the  horsehair  chain, 
which  was  laboriously  and  often  most  excellently  woven 
from  the  hairs  of  horses'  tails.  These  chains  usually  were 
of  length  sufficient  to  surround  the  neck  and  to  reach  to 
the  bottom  pocket  of  the  vest,  and,  at  the  lower  end,  had  a 
small  loop  and  a  "crown  knot"  wherewith  to  engage  the 
watch.  They  were  a  factor  in  the  courting  on  the  Range, 
for  among  cowboys  it  was  as  axiomatic  that  the  female 
doted  on  horsehair  chains  as  it  now  is  among  the  cowboys' 
descendants  that  she  has  no  aversion  to  pearl  necklaces. 
The  puncher,  disdaining  to  shoot  Cupid's  arrows  at  his 
inamorata,  essayed  to  lasso  her  with  a  tiny  lariat  made 
from  the  discards  of  his  favorite  pony's  tail. 

Ranch  owners  and  such  of  their  employees  as  were  not 
cowboys  dressed  as  did  the  cowboy;  save  that,  having  no 
dignity  of  position  to  maintain,  they  felt  less  compelled  to 
wear  fine  quality  of  raiment  and,  as  already  stated,  reserved 
the  right  to  use  foot-gear  other  than  the  conventional,  high- 
topped  boot. 

A  few  of  the  ranch  owners,  either  Englishmen  or  such 
Easterners  as  had  been  much  in  Europe,  laid  aside  from 
time  to  time  long  trousers  and  appeared  in  shorts.  These 
latter  abbreviated  garments,  then  still  a  novelty  upon  the 
Atlantic  coast,  were  to  the  cowboy  an  enigma,  a  cause  of 
irritation  and  an  object  of  surprise  and  contempt.    In  the 


WHAT  THE  COWBOY  WORE  119 

words  of  Kansas  Evans,  ''Bill,  what'  je  think?  Yesterday, 
up  to  that  English  outfit's  ranch,  I  seen  a  grown  man  walkin' 
around  in  boy's  knee  pants.  And  they  say  he's  second 
cousin  to  a  dook.  Gosh !  Wonder  what  the  dook  wears." 
''Knee  pants"  were  resented  as  being  un-American,  and 
they  cost  their  wearers  no  small  loss  of  caste  upon  the 
Range.  None  save  a  ranch  owner  would  dare  appear  in 
them. 


CHAPTER  VI 
SADDLES 

BIDING  SADDLE,  ITS  NAMES,  SHAPE,  COMPONENT  PARTS  AND  VARIOUS  AT- 
TACHMENTS— LATTER's  names  and  uses — MERITS  OF  SINGLE  RIG  AND 
DOUBLE  RIG  COMPARED — FURTHER  SADDLE  ATTACHMENTS,  THEIR  NAMES 
AND  USES — CAMPING  AND  CAMP-COOKING — STILL  FURTHER  SADDLE  AT- 
TACHMENTS— FONDNESS  FOR  SADDLE — SADDLING — ADVANTAGES  AND  DIS- 
ADVANTAGES OF  STOCK-SADDLE — WESTERN  RIDING  RECORDS 

The  riding  saddle  of  the  cowboy  merits  description,  not 
only  because  it  was  the  cowboy's  work-bench  or  his  throne, 
according  as  one  cares  to  picture  it,  but  also  because  one 
cannot  understand  the  puncher's  ability  to  ride  the  bronco 
except  one  understands  the  saddle. 

Unless  there  had  existed  that  particular  form  of  saddle, 
no  man  could  have  ridden  the  Western  horse  in  the  Western 
country  under  the  conditions  that  obtained  long  years  ago. 
There  would  have  been  no  cowboys  and  no  ranches.  The 
plains  would  have  been  forced  to  wait  for  their  empeopling 
until  the  unadventurous  farmer  slowly  had  pushed  West- 
ward. The  course  of  Western  history  was  determined  by 
that  saddle. 

The  riding  saddle  universally  used  upon  the  Range  was 
of  the  type  which,  throughout  the  West,  was  known  as 
"cow  saddle,"  "Range  saddle,"  or,  more  commonly,  as 
"stock-saddle,"  and  in  the  East  was  called  "Mexican  sad- 
dle," "Western  saddle,"  or  "cowboy  saddle."  It  perhaps 
should  have  been  termed  Moorish  rather  than  Mexican, 
for,  in  ahnost  its  present  basic  form,  the  Moors  carried  it 
from  Africa  to  Spain  over  a  thousand  years  ago. 

The  flat  EngUsh  saddle  the  cowboy  termed  a  "human 
saddle,"  "kidney  pad,"  or  "postage  stamp."  He  regarded  it 
as  a  token  of  effeteness,  not  as  an  accoutrement  for  a  horse. 

120 


SADDLES  121 

All  stock-saddles  were  alike  in  fundamentals,  though  they 
varied  in  incidental  details. 

The  height  and  angles  of  the  horn  and  cantle,  and  whether 
the  seat  were  short  or  long,  wide  or  narrow,  whether  it  were 
of  approximately  uniform  width  or  more  or  less  triangular, 
whether  it  were  level  or  sloped  upward  toward  either  the 
horn  or  the  cantle  or  toward  both,  whether  the  horn  were 
vertical  or  inclined  forward,  and  whether  its  top  were  hori- 
zontal or  were  higher  at  its  front  edge  than  at  its  rear  were 
all  matters  purely  of  the  rider^s  choice;  save  that  the  cantle 
had  to  be  high  enough  to  prevent  the  lariat-thrower  from 
slipping  backward  when  his  cow-horse  after  the  throw 
squatted  on  its  haunches  and  braced  itself.  Also  followers 
of  the  Texan  custom  of  fastening  the  lariat^s  home  end  to 
the  horn  before  the  lariat  was  thrown  required  at  least  a 
fairly  high  horn.  Such  men  had  to  have  not  only  the  space 
thus  occupied  but  also  additional  room  for  '^snubbing," 
because,  the  instant  the  lariat  caught  its  prey,  the  lariat 
had  to  be  wound  for  a  few  turns  around  the  horn;  L  e.,  to 
be  snubbed. 

The  several  slight  variations  in  shape  created  special 
names;  and  a  saddle  was  designated,  according  to  the  form 
of  its  tree,  as  California,  Brazos,  White  River,  Nelson,  Ore- 
gon, Cheyenne,  etc. 

The  American  ranchmen's  saddles  were  built  by  profes- 
sional manufacturers  and  not,  as  commonly  in  Mexico,  by 
the  cowboys  themselves. 

Extremely  stout  construction  was  required  to  withstand 
successfully  the  terrific  strains  from  roping. 

Upon  the  front  end  of  a  strongly  built  hardwood  'Hree," 
comprised  of  longitudinal  ^'fork"  and  transverse  ^^ cantle," 
was  bolted  a  metal  horn ;  and  the  whole,  covered  with  raw- 
hide, was  fastened  down  onto  a  broad,  curved,  leathern 
plate  which  rested  on  the  horse's  back.  This  plate  in  its 
entirety  was  called  the  ^^ skirt,"  unless  one  preferred  to  dif- 


122  THE  COWBOY 

ferentiate  and  to  refer  to  the  half  of  the  plate  on  the  horse's 
left  side  as  one  skirt,  the  ''near"  or  ''leff  skirt,  and  to  the 
half  on  the  horse's  right  side  as  another  skirt,  the  ''off" 
or  "right"  skirt,  and  thus,  when  mentioning  the  two  halves 
collectively,  to  term  them  as  "skirts"  instead  of  as  a  skirt. 

Synonyms  for  skirt  and  skirts  were  respectively  "basto" 
and  "bastos"  (from  Spanish  "basto,"  a  pad  or  a  pack- 
saddle),  though  some  men  restricted  these  latter  terms  to 
the  leathern  Uning  of  the  skirt,  a  Hning  known  also  as  the 
"sudadero." 

On  each  side  of  the  horse  there  lay  on  top  of  the  skirt 
a  leathern  piece  which  was  shorter  and  narrower  than  the 
skirt,  fitted  closely  around  the  base  of  the  horn  and  cantle, 
and  had  its  outer  edges  parallel  with,  but  well  inside  of,  the 
borders  of  the  bottom  and  rear  edges  of  the  skirt.  This 
leathern  piece  was  the  so-called  "jockey."  It  usually  was 
in  two  sections,  its  portion  forward  of  the  stirrup-leather 
being  termed  the  "front  jockey,"  while  so  much  as  was 
aft  of  the  stirrup-leather  was  styled  the  "rear  jockey." 

The  composite  structure  fitted  onto  the  horse's  back  in 
the  same  way  as  would  have  done  a  headless  barrel  if  halved 
lengthwise,  and  to  the  entire  barrel-like  portion  of  the  sad- 
dle was  colloquially  apphed  the  term  bastos,  although  that 
term  had  technically  the  more  restricted  meaning  stated 
above. 

In  infrequent  instances  the  skirt  and  the  rear  jockey 
extended  backward  no  farther  than  to  the  cantle,  ahd  then 
there  was  sewn  to  the  latter's  base  an  "anquera,"  a  broad 
plate  of  leather  which  covered  the  otherwise  exposed  por- 
tion of  the  horse's  hips,  and  protected  the  clothing  of  the 
rider  from  his  animal's  sweat. 

The  skirt  of  usual  size  stretched  from  the  horse's  withers 
to  his  rump,  and  well-nigh  half-way  down  both  his  flanks. 
It  had  so  much  bearing  surface  that  the  saddle  tended  to 
remain  in  position  even  without  the  aid  of  a  "cinch."    A 


SADDLES  123 

large  skirt  was  necessary  when  riding  buckers  or  when  rop- 
ing; but  for  ordinary  pottering  about  a  few  ranch  owners 
used  a  saddle  the  skirt  of  which  was  much  curtailed. 

Whether  the  saddle  should  contain  a  **roll"  was  a  matter 
of  the  rider's  individual  choice.  Some  men  used  the  at- 
tachment, others  did  not.  A  roll  was  a  long  welt  which 
stuck  out  for  a  third  of  an  inch  or  more  from  the  front  face 
of  the  cantle  just  under  its  top  rim.  This  cornice-like  addi- 
tion tended  to  keep  the  rider  from  sHding  backward  out  of 
the  saddle  during  roping  and  from  moving  skyward  when 
his  pony  was  bucking. 

The  saddle  was  attached  to  the  horse  either  by  one 
*' cinch''  passing  under  the  animal  at  a  point  approximately 
even  with  the  stirrups,  or  by  two  ^'cinches,"  respectively 
designated  as  the  '^ front"  and  the  *'hind"  or  ''rear  cinch," 
and  passing  one  just  behind  the  animal's  front  legs  and  one 
some  twelve  inches  further  to  the  rear.  The  saddle  of  two 
cinches  was  designated  technically  as  ''double-rigged",  or 
"double  rig";  popularly  and  in  pistol-maker's  phrases  as 
"double  fire, ^'  "rim  fire,"  or  "double-barrelled";  while  the 
saddle  of  one  cinch  had,  as  its  corresponding  terms,  "single- 
rigged,"  "single  rig,"  "single  fire,"  "centre  fire,"  and 
"single-barrelled,"  and  often  was  also  called  "California 
rig,"  this  last  because  Calif ornians  commonly  used  but  one 
cinch. 

However  if  a  person,  while  using  colloquial  language, 
wished  to  make  technical  subdivisions  among  single-cinched 
saddles,  he  would  limit  "centre  fire"  to  the  saddle  in  which 
the  cinch  was  either  sHghtly  behind  the  stirrups  or,  at  most, 
even  with  them,  and  would  specify  as  "three-quarters" 
rig  the  saddle  in  which  the  cinch  was  in  a  slightly  more 
advanced  position. 

Some  Texans  called  the  cinches  "girths,"  and  the  rear- 
ward of  them  the  "flank  girth." 

Whether  a  saddle  should  be  single  or  double  rigged  was 


124  THE  COWBOY 

a  matter  of  its  owner's  preference.  The  single  as  compared 
with  the  double  was  more  easily  put  on  and  taken  off,  was 
a  bit  more  flexible  in  riding  motion,  but  it  was  more  apt 
to  shift  position  during  roping  and  bucking  and  upon  steep 
trails. 

Riders  differed  greatly  in  the  direction  and  force  of  the 
thrusts  which  they  imposed  upon  their  saddles.  With  creat- 
ing this  result,  the  men's  weights  in  actual  pounds  had  but 
little  to  do.  The  controlling  factor  was  the  method  of  sitting 
the  saddle.  Some  riders  of  however  much  or  httle  poundage 
ever  kept  themselves  not  only  in  balance  upon  the  horse, 
but  also  in  balance  with  it.  Such  riders  made  no  pulls  or 
pushes  that  by  antagonizing  the  horse's  movements  sub- 
jected the  saddle  to  twisting  or  dislodging  strain.  Horse- 
men of  this  t3^e  could  go  for  miles  without  retightening 
cinches,  rarely  galled  their  horses'  backs,  always  could  ride 
their  steeds  long  distances  without  an  undue  tiring  of  the 
brutes,  and,  save  in  roping  or  bucking  or  when  upon  steep 
''side  hills,"  little  needed  to  care  whether  their  cinches  were 
loose  or  taut.  Such  men  were  called  ''light  riders."  They 
each  might  weigh  two  hundred  pounds  and  yet  "ride  light." 
Of  such  men,  some  used  a  saddle  with  single  rig;  others 
preferred  the  riding  motion  of  the  double  rig,  or  thought 
the  latter  a  more  prudent  risk  and  so  employed  two  cinches. 

Still  other  riders  were  by  the  nature  of  their  saddle-sitting 
forced  to  employ  the  double  rig,  and  thus  to  "carry  their 
pony  in  a  shawl  strap."  These  latter  riders  would  on  occa- 
sion get  out  of  balance,  and  would  rectify  themselves  by 
impulsive  twists  and  yanks.  They  would  sway  a  bit  across 
and  not  in  strict  accord  with  the  line  of  the  horse's  motions. 
All  this  would  tend  to  divert  the  saddle  from  its  normal 
position.  Such  riders  "rode  heavy,"  had  frequent  cause 
to  taughten  latigos,  and  caused  many  a  saddle  sore  upon 
their  ponies'  backs.  These  men  could  cHng  to  the  bucker 
and  throw  the  rope  as  successfully  as  could  their  "lighter- 


SADDLES  125 

riding^'  brothers,  but  they  ^^gimletted"  or  "beefsteaked" 
far  more  horses^  backs  and  tired  far  more  ponies. 

Finally,  in  certain  regions,  the  prevailing  type  of  local 
horse  had  a  chest  so  short  and  sloping  as  to  give  insufficient 
anchorage  to  but  a  single  cinch;  while,  in  other  regions,  the 
shortness  of  the  corresponding  horses'  *' barrels"  gave  little 
room  for  the  double  rig. 

Users  of  double  rig  were  careful  to  obey  a  regulation  pre- 
scribed by  horses  and  requiring  that  the  front  cinch  be  tight- 
ened before  the  rear  one  be  pulled  upon.  This  rule  was 
strictly  enforced  by  the  animals,  which,  upon  its  infraction, 
waited  only  till  the  offender  had  mounted  before  they  went 
into  executive  session.  Many  a  tenderfoot,  unmindful  of 
this  order  of  procedure,  has  "hit  the  ground,"  ''sunned  his 
moccasins,"  or  ''landed,"  which  is  to  say,  in  other  forms 
of  Range  English,  has  been  "spilled,"  "chucked,"  or 
"dumped,"  in  any  case  to  hear  that  conventional,  derisive 
call:  "Hi  there!  YouVe  dropped  something."  Many  a 
competent  rider  has  been  furnished  with  conclusive  if  cir- 
cumstantial evidence  that,  during  his  absence,  cinches  had 
been  tampered  with. 

Sometimes  with  a  double  rig  the  cinches,  to  avoid  a  sore, 
or  more  firmly  to  grip  a  sloping  chest,  were  crossed  below 
the  horse,  making  a  letter  X. 

Galled  backs  and  cinch  cuts  were  common,  but  usually 
were  ignored  by  the  riders,  who  credited  the  ponies  with 
having  iron  constitutions.  Certainly  the  animals  seemed 
to  suffer  little  pain  from  their  skin  abrasions. 

Usually  the  under  surface  of  the  bastos  was  smooth.  If 
so,  there  was  put  between  it  and  the  horse's  back  some  form 
of  padding,  either  a  shaped  pad  called  a  "corona"  or  else, 
more  commonly,  a  folded  blanket;  and  under  the  corona, 
or  blanket,  for  ventilating  purposes  was  placed  a  gunny- 
sack.  In  some  saddles  the  bastos  was  lined  with  woolly 
sheepskin,  and  in  such  case  the  padding  was  omitted. 


126  THE  COWBOY 

The  "cincha"  or,  as  usually  termed,  the  cinch  was  a 
broad,  short  band  made  of  coarsely  woven  horsehair  or 
sometimes  of  canvas  or  cordage,  and  terminating  at  either 
end  in  a  metal  ring.  On  each  side  of  the  saddle-tree  was 
attached,  for  each  cinch,  a  second  metal  ring  called  the 
"rigging  ring,"  "tree  ring,"  or  "saddle-ring,"  and  from 
which  hung  a  long  leathern  strap  called  a  "latigo."  This 
strap,  after  being  passed  successively  and  usually  twice 
through  both  the  cinch  ring  and  the  corresponding  tree- 
ring,  was  fastened  below  the  latter  by  much  the  same 
method  as  that  in  which  the  present-day  masculine  "four- 
in-hand"  necktie  is  knotted.  The  latigo  on  the  saddlers 
off  side  was  permanently  left  thus  fastened,  and,  in  saddling 
and  unsaddling,  operations  were  restricted  to  the  strap 
upon  the  near  side. 

A  variation  from  this  method  of  fastening  the  latigo  was 
often  used  on  the  near  side  during  the  breaking  of  a  horse. 
A  wide,  metal  buckle  offered  a  speedier  means  of  attach- 
ment, and  haste  was  desirable  when  the  steed  was  plung- 
ing. 

While  camped  within  a  forest,  pimchers  had  carefully  to 
guard  their  latigos,  because,  for  some  inscrutable  reason, 
the  latter  bore  to  porcupines  the  same  relation  that  candy 
does  to  children.  It  was  no  uncommon  thing  to  see  a  dis- 
mounted puncher,  when  not  using  his  saddle  as  a  pillow, 
hang  it  from  a  limb  or  place  it  on  a  pole  fastened  horizon- 
tally and  high  above  the  ground. 

The  rough  cinch  adhered  well  to  the  horse^s  body  and 
offered  a  good  hold  to  the  rowels  and  hooks  of  the  spurs. 
While  the  cinch  was,  strictly  speaking,  merely  the  broad 
band,  the  term  customarily  was  applied  to  the  combination 
of  both  this  band  and  its  own  two  latigos. 

Despite  the  stout  material  of  the  cinch  and  latigos,  one 
of  them  occasionally  would  break  under  the  strain  of  buck- 
ing, whereat  both  saddle  and  rider  would  disappear  from 


SADDLES  127 

the  horse^s  back.  Gut  of  this  not  infrequent  occurrence 
arose  the  myth  of  the  prudent  cowboy  who,  in  his  cinch, 
substituted  lead  pipe  for  woven  hair. 

From  each  side  of  the  saddle  hung  vertically,  in  unequal 
lengths,  the  two  leaves  of  the  '' stirrup-leather,"  which  was 
a  broad  strap  looped  through  the  saddle's  tree.  The  end 
of  the  longer  leaf  was  passed  through  the  stirrup's  top,  and 
then  was  made  fast  to  the  bottom  of  the  shorter  leaf.  A 
buckskin  thong,  threading  a  series  of  holes  in  the  two  leaves, 
provided  means  of  fastening  and  ability  to  adjust  length; 
a  thong,  instead  of  a  buckle,  because  so  far  as  possible  metal 
was  excluded  from  the  saddle.  The  cowboy  not  only  wished 
his  outfit  to  be  susceptible  of  immediate  repair,  but  he  had 
faith  in  the  durability  of  leather  and  none  in  that  of  metal. 
He  might  countenance  the  use  of  buckles  upon  saddles  used 
for  breaking  horses  in  the  corrals  near  the  ranch-house,  but 
he  wished  no  buckles  under  him  when  he  was  riding  far 
afield. 

It  was  this  rehance  upon  simplicity  as  conducive  to  sure- 
ness  that  made  him  prefer  his  pistol  to  be  of  single,  rather 
than  of  the  slightly  more  complex  double  action. 

Each  stirrup-leather  hung,  as  already  stated,  from  the 
saddle's  tree.  These  two  leathers  at  their  starting-point 
almost  met  behind  the  horn,  and,  severally  leaving,  one  to 
the  saddle's  right,  the  other  to  the  saddle's  left,  rested  in 
shallow  grooves  cut  in  the  wood  of  the  tree.  In  some  sad- 
dles, the  seat's  leathern  covering,  starting  forward  from  the 
cantle,  went  only  to  this  groove's  rear  edge.  In  other  sad- 
dles, this  covering  extended  over  the  entire  seat  and  com- 
pletely hid  the  upper  portion  of  the  stirrup-leathers.  Tech- 
nical names  were  given  to  these  two  forms  of  seat  covering. 
They  were  respectively  'Hhree-quarter  seat"  and  *'full 
seat." 

Where  each  stirrup-leather  emitted  from  the  saddle's 
side,  was  overlaid  a  flat  leathern  plate.    This  plate,  known 


128  THE  COWBOY 

indiscriminately  as  the  ''seat  jockey"  or  "leg  jockey," 
shielded  the  rider's  leg  from  chafing. 

Sewn  to  the  back  of  each  stirrup-leather  was  a  vertical, 
wide  leathern  shield,  the  **rosadero";  sometimes,  though 
incorrectly,  called  the  ''sudadero/'  It  protected  from  the 
horse's  sweat  and  offered  stout  defense  to  the  rider's  leg. 

At  the  bottom  of  each  stirrup-leather,  was  a  stirrup  made 
of  a  wide  piece  of  tough  wood  bent  into  shape,  bolted  to- 
gether at  the  top,  and  so  sturdy  as  to  defy  crushing  by  a 
falling  horse.  Into  the  stirrup  went  the  rider's  foot  clear 
to  the  latter' s  heel,  his  toe  pointing  inward  and  either  hori- 
zontally or  downward.  The  sides  and  front  of  the  stirrup 
were  ordinarily  enclosed  by  a  wedge-shaped,  leathern  cover 
open  toward  the  rear.  The  technical  name  of  this  cover 
was  'Hapadero,"  though  colloquially  this  ahnost  always 
was  shortened  into  'Hap." 

Commonly  each  side  of  each  of  the  "taps"  was  in  the  form 
of  a  triangle  with  apex  pointing  downward,  and  was  so  long 
that  this  apex  barely  escaped  the  ground;  but  some  men 
used  "taps"  which,  following  the  historic  Spanish  model, 
were  shaped  somewhat  like  horizontally  laid  coal-scuttles. 
The  "taps"  prevented  the  rider's  feet  from  passing  com- 
pletely through  the  stirrups,  being  snagged  by  brush,  or 
being  bitten  by  a  savage  horse.  When  long  and  flapped 
under  a  ridden  steed,  they  were  of  no  small  use  as  a  whip. 

"Open"  stirrups,  i.  e.y  "tapless"  ones,  were  rarely  seen 
upon  the  Range. 

From  each  side  of  every  saddle  hung  four  sets  of  thongs, 
two  thongs  in  each  set.  One  of  these  sets  was  at  the  saddle's 
front,  one  near  its  rear,  while  the  other  two  were  spaced 
so  that  the  rider's  leg  just  passed  between  them.  The  two 
sets  of  rear  thongs  embraced  whatever  might  be  laid  across 
the  saddle  behind  the  cantle,  almost  invariably  the  "slicker," 
which  was  a  long  rain-coat  of  yellow  oilskin  such  as  coastal 
fishermen  wear;   though  in  the  Southwest  the  thongs  in- 


SADDLES  129 

stead  of  this  sometimes  confined  a  Mexican  "serape."  The 
front  and  side  thongs  held  any  package  of  the  moment. 

If  a  cowboy  were  starting  on  a  trip  which,  while  forcing 
him  to  camp  overnight,  did  not  call  for  many  supplies  and 
a  consequent  pack-horse,  he  would,  nevertheless,  not  limit 
himself  to  the  traditional  Hudson  Bay  Company's  ration  of 
a  rabbit  track  and  a  cartridge,  but  would  insert  within  the 
folds  of  the  *^ slicker '^  tied  at  his  saddle's  rear  the  journey's 
necessaries.  These  were  a  frying-pan,  some  flour,  bacon, 
coffee,  salt,  and,  as  a  substitute  for  yeast,  either  a  bottle  of 
sour  dough  or  a  can  of  baking-powder. 

When  halting  time  arrived,  the  camp  was  pitched  wher- 
ever both  forage  for  the  horse  and  drinkable  water  met. 
The  water,  though  drinkable,  was  not  always  pleasing,  for 
it  might  taste  somewhat  of  sheep,  contain  the  carcass  of  a 
steer,  or  be  girt  by  banks  marked  with  the  telltale  white 
of  alkali.  It  might  be  so  full  of  sand  as  to  demand  admix- 
ture of  juice  from  a  cactus  leaf  before  showing  clearness. 
It  might  be  so  warm  as  to  suggest  the  betterment  of  cooling 
in  a  porous  earthern  jar  clad  in  a  wet  blanket  and  hung 
aloft  for  evaporation's  chilUng  aid.  Will  power,  hard  boil- 
ing, and  a  cactus  leaf  were  available  to  do  away  with  un- 
pleasant thoughts,  with  ptomaine  dangers,  and  with  float- 
ing sand,  but  the  earthern  jar  would  be  at  the  distant  ranch 
and  unattainable.  Thus  the  uncomplaining  cowboy  some- 
times, as  he  said,  ^Mrank  his  cold  water  hot."  Fortunately 
most  of  the  Western  waters  were  not  of  this  unpleasant 
sort. 

Occasionally,  in  the  desert,  water  was  either  non-existent 
or  else  so  alkalinely  saturated  as  hopelessly  to  ^^rust  the 
boilers"  of  whoever  drank  it.  In  the  latter  case,  although 
the  horses  were  left  grimacingly  to  gulp  the  biting  fluid 
and  run  the  risk  of  being  ^^alkalied,"  the  men  might  have 
recourse  to  canned  tomatoes.  The  liquid  portion  of  the 
can's  contents  assuaged  thirst  and  counteracted  the  effect 


130  THE  COWBOY 

of  the  already  swallowed  alkali  dust,  while  the  solid  vegetable 
wiped  across  one's  face  would  heal  the  bleeding  cuts  which 
that  cannibalistic  dust  had  made.  A  tomato  might  occa- 
sionally be  pressed  against  a  pony's  lips  for  their  comfort- 
ing. 

The  can-opener  was  irresistible,  since  it  was  a  pistol 
fired  horizontally  at  the  can's  top  edge. 

The  pitching  of  camp  was  a  simple  process.  It  consisted 
of  stripping  the  saddle  and  bridle  from  the  horse,  of  turn- 
ing the  latter  loose  to  graze  either  at  the  end  of  a  picket 
rope  or  within  the  grip  of  hobbles,  and  finally  of  building 
a  fire.  Lighting  the  fire  was  not  always  an  easy  matter, 
for  matches  might  be  wet  or  lost.  Then  it  would  call  for 
powder  from  a  dissected  cartridge,  and  the  igniting  of  it 
by  a  pistol-shot.  Careless  aiming  might  ^'hang  the  kin- 
dlings on  the  scenery." 

If,  as  was  usually  the  case,  the  camp's  coffee  were  un- 
ground,  its  beans  were  mashed  on  a  rock  with  the  butt  of 
a  pistol.  The  resultant  mixture  of  vegetable  and  mineral 
substances  was  set  aside  until  the  frying-pan  should  have 
cooked,  first,  bread  and,  next,  bacon. 

The  bread  was  quite  eatable.  With  a  thick  batter  spread 
thinly  over  the  bottom  of  the  pan,  the  latter  was  laid  upon 
hot  coals  for  a  moment  and  until  a  lower  crust  had  com- 
menced to  form.  Then,  tipped  on  edge,  it  was  held  far 
enough  from  the  fire  for  a  little  heat  to  reach  it  and  to  raise 
the  loaf.  This  achieved,  the  pan,  still  on  edge,  was  pushed 
to  within  baking  distance  of  the  coals,  and  was  left  there 
until  the  pan's  contents  were  done. 

The  thus  baked  bread,  the  historic  "frying-pan  bread" 
of  the  West,  vacated  the  pan,  and  into  the  latter  went  strips 
of  bacon.  When  these  had  been  fried,  the  pan  was  rapped 
against  a  rock  or  tree,  to  expel  such  of  the  grease  as  readily 
would  leave,  and  then  received  a  charge  of  water  and  the 
coffee-gravel  mixture.     When  the  boiling  fluid  was  fairly 


SADDLES  131 

well  covered  with  fat  melted  from  the  utensil^s  sides,  the 
dose-like  beverage  was  ready  for  consumption. 

There  might  be  a  slice  or  two  of  jerked  meat  from  either 
beef  or  elk,  or  else,  long  years  ago,  from  buffalo. 

All  this  crudity  was  due  not  to  epicurean  depravity,  but 
entirely  to  the  restricted  transportation  facihties  which 
beset  the  cowboy  as  well  as  the  scout,  the  trapper,  the  pros- 
pector, and  the  explorer. 

The  menu  of  the  puncher  upon  his  travels  rarely  became 
more  extensive  than  the  one  described  above.  A  pack- 
horse,  when  there  was  one,  indicated  quantity  rather  than 
variety  of  food.  But  it  did  insure  the  presence  of  a  coffee- 
pot. 

The  lee  side  of  a  rock  or  bush,  the  saddle  for  a  pillow, 
the  shcker  and  horse  blanket  for  a  covering,  a  pile  of  wood 
for  replenishing  the  fire,  collectively  made  the  bedroom  and 
its  furnishings. 

"The  moon  now  cleared  the  world's  end,  and  the  owl 
Gave  voice  unto  the  wizardry  of  hght; 
While  in  some  dim-Ht  chancel  of  the  night, 
Snouts  to  the  goddess,  wolfish  corybants 
Intoned  their  wild  antiphonary  chants — 
The  oldest,  saddest  worship  in  the  world."  * 

Tents  and  extra  bedding,  because  of  their  troublesome 
carriage,  were  almost  unknown  even  in  winter.  In  the  latter 
season,  burrowing  under  the  snow  protected  the  sleeper 
from  the  wind,  while  logs  placed  side  by  side  atop  the  snow 
made  a  platform  for  the  fire. 

In  cold  weather  the  puncher,  when  thus  afield,  custo- 
marily took  to  bed  with  him  his  horse's  bridle,  that  the  bit 
might  be  kept  warm  and  the  horse  be  spared  the  pain  which 
mouthing  frigid  metal  would  have  caused. 

Camping  in  the  colder  climates  was  often  a  trying  process 

*From  "The  Song  of  Hugh  Glass,"  by  John  G.  Neihardt. 


132  THE  COWBOY 

marked  by  nocturnal  contests  between  soporific  desire  and 
rheumatic  pains,  a  contest  which  vacillated  according  as 
a  sleepy  hand  dropped  fuel  upon  the  fire  or  the  embers 
chilled. 

However,  the  topic  under  consideration  is  the  cowboy's 
saddle  and  not  his  troubles. 

There  might  be  at  the  base  of  the  saddle's  horn  a  ''buck 
strap,",. which  was  a  loop  that  offered  a  convenient  hand- 
hold during  pitching.  Its  owner  never  bragged  about  its 
presence.  Top  riders  scorned  it,  and  excluded  it  from  their 
saddles. 

Not  infrequently  a  pair  of  leathern  pockets  bestrode  the 
saddle,  sometimes  behind  the  cantle,  more  rarely  at  the 
horn.  These  receptacles  were  called  either  "cantineses" 
or  saddle  pockets. 

The  word  ''cantineses"  was  used  also  figuratively,  and 
in  colloquial  usage  was  extended  to  include  any  heterogene- 
ous medley  of  small  objects.  In  this  latter  sense  and  par- 
ticularly when  qualified,  as  often  it  was,  by  the  word 
''Httle,"  the  expression  was  equivalent  to  the  homely  New 
England  phrase,  ''small  contraptions." 

If  the  saddle  were  being  used  in  desert  country,  then  from 
the  horn  might  hang  a  pair  of  felt-covered,  metallic  canteens, 
or  two  water-bottles  of  leather  or  of  coated  canvas. 

The  leather  of  the  entire  saddle,  inclusive  of  taps  and 
stirrup-leathers,  usually  was  covered  with  handsomely  im- 
pressed designs  of  leaves  and  flowers.  A  saddle,  if  so  deco- 
rated, would  cost,  in  the  decades  of  the  seventies  and 
eighties,  some  fifty  dollars.  In  the  Southwest,  occasionally 
not  only  was  silver  laid  into  the  groundwork  of  the  im- 
pressed designs,  but  both  the  horn  and  cantle  were  subject 
to  be  ornamented  with  precious  metal.  Then  the  cost  as- 
suredly mounted.  Ten  months'  wages  often  went  into  deco- 
ration. At  least  one  ranch  owner  had  a  horn  and  cantle 
each  of  solid  gold. 


SADDLES  133 

Often  on  the  cowboys'  saddles  there  was  applied  a  home- 
made ornamentation  consisting  of  brass  nails  or,  again,  of 
rattlesnake  skins  plastered  flat  and  permanently  stuck  fasl 
by  their  own  glue. 

The  saddle's  coloring  was  usually  light  brown;  but  some- 
times, and  especially  in  the  less  expensive  saddles,  it  was 
cherry-red. 

Each  saddle  best  fitted  its  special  owner,  for  it  gradually 
acquired  tiny  humps  and  hollows  that  registered  with  his 
anatomy,  and  induced  both  comfort  and  security  of  seat. 
These  little  mouldings,  which  suited  well  the  owner,  would 
often  fight  the  contour  of  a  stranger's  legs.  Wherefore  each 
man  swore  by  his  own  saddle  and  at  all  others.  Texas  Ike, 
in  good  faith  and  with  generous  impulse,  said:  "Jim,  don't 
bother  to  get  your  saddle.  Ride  mine.  It's  the  best  that 
ever  came  out  of  Cheyenne.  It's  as  comfortable  as  a  trundle- 
bed."  Jim  mounted,  squirmed,  grunted,  and  in  equally 
good  faith  remarked:  "Tex,  where  in  hell  did  you  ever  find 
this  Spanish  Inquisition  chamber  anyhow?  You  must  be 
using  it  like  the  priests  wore  hair  shirts." 

A  cowboy  so  valued  his  saddle,  particularly  after  it  had 
been  broken  in,  that  he  almost  never  would  part  with  it. 
He  has  gone  so  far  as,  in  a  poker  game,  to  lose  his  money, 
gun,  chaps,  horse,  and  even  shirt,  and  then,  with  saddle 
on  his  back,  to  "strike  out"  for  the  ranch  still  thoroughly 
cheerful  and  with  "his  tail  up."  Even  such  punchers  as 
upon  completion  of  the  Texas  Drive  returned  to  Texas  by 
rail  instead  of  on  horseback  carried  their  saddles  with  them. 

Moreover,  it  was  a  bit  disgraceful  to  sell  one's  saddle. 
It  was  akin  to  disposing  of  the  ancestral  plate  and  family 
jewels.  The  phrase  "He's  sold  his  saddle,"  became  of  gen- 
eral usage,  and  was  employed  in  a  figurative  way  to  denote 
that  anybody  in  any  calling  had  become  financially  or 
morally  insolvent.  Years  ago  in  a  Httle  school  at  Gardiner, 
Montana,  a  small,  tow-headed  youth,  when  asked  by  the 


134  THE  COWBOY 

teacher  as  to  who  Benedict  Arnold  was  and  what  he  had 
done,  repUed:  '^He  was  one  of  our  generals  and  he  sold 
his  saddle." 

Because  the  saddle  from  its  shape  and  large  bearing  sur- 
face had  so  good  a  hold  on  the  horse's  back,  riders  usually, 
except  when  on  fractious  animals  or  in  a  mountainous  coun- 
try, let  the  cinches  sag  loosely.  This  gave  comfort  to  the 
lungs  within  the  confining  straps.  The  horses  aided  in  pro- 
curing this  sag,  for  Western  steeds,  when  being  saddled, 
puffed  themselves  like  adders  at  the  first  pull  on  the  latigo. 
They  might  be  momentarily  thrown  off  their  guard  by  a 
kick  behind  the  ribs,  but  the  beasts  reconcentrated  their 
attention  upon  inhaling  before  the  strap  could  be  pulled 
again. 

To  *'cinch  up"  any  bronco  (he  was  ''cinched  up,"  not 
merely  ''cinched"),  one  had  to  place  one's  foot  against  the 
brute's  ribs  and,  in  the  case  of  the  front  cinch,  to  pull  with  al- 
most all  one's  strength  upon  the  latigo,  meanwhile  standing 
ready  to  dodge  precipitate  bites  from  the  indignant  head- 
tossing  bronco.  PulHng  upon  the  rear  cinch  exacted  much 
less  muscular  effort,  but  much  greater  circumspection;  for 
bites  were  apt  to  be  more  frequent,  and  good  measure  might 
throw  in  a  kick  or  two. 

The  cowboy's  saddle  was  not  suitable  for  racing.  It  was 
too  heavy,  thirty  pounds  at  the  very  least  and  usually  forty 
pounds  or  over.  But  the  usual  and  useful  gaits  of  the  Range 
were  not  of  racing  speed.  They  were  the  running  walk, 
the  jiggling  trot,  the  lope,  with  now  and  then  a  short  dash 
after  errant  five  stock. 

The  cowboy's  saddle  well-nigh  inhibited  jumping  of  hur- 
dles. Its  occupant,  the  instant  he  assumed  the  posture 
necessary  to  encourage  his  horse  to  "take  off,"  lost  his  bal- 
anced seat,  and  was,  from  the  saddle's  shape,  unable  to  cling, 
as  on  the  English  tree,  by  constrictive  force.  But  there 
were  few  hurdles  upon  the  Range. 


SADDLES  135 

Nor  could  a  rider,  when  in  this  saddle,  rise  to  the  trot. 
But  the  cowboy  did  not  wish  to  rise.  In  his  own  language, 
he  ^^postage-stamped''  the  horse. 

Nevertheless  the  saddle  was  ideal  for  the  service  in  which 
it  was  used. 

It  made  wholesale  roping  possible.  It  made  possible 
riding  the  American  bucker.  It  made  possible  long  and 
compulsory  rides  on  animals  so  indifferently  broken  as  to 
have  been  unserviceable  under  a  seat  less  secure.  It  made 
possible  the  ''night  herd,"  because  it  permitted  the  tired 
cowboy  to  sleep  while  still  ahorse.  Repeatedly  men  on 
herding  duty  were,  through  storm  or  other  circumstance, 
kept  upon  their  task  for  forty-eight  consecutive  hours.  In 
the  wild  nights  of  winter,  the  most  courageous  puncher 
did  not  dare  to  permit  his  pony  chance  of  escape,  so  there 
were  cat-naps  in  the  saddle,  rather  than  more  restful  sleeps 
beside  a  picket  pin. 

The  saddle  offered  its  occupant  opportunity  to  sit  in 
perfect  balance,  and  such  a  seat  was  the  one  best  suited  to 
the  type  of  horses  and  to  the  character  of  riding  which  were 
involved.  The  saddle's  occupant,  because  with  body  en- 
tirely relaxed  and  legs  at  full  length  and  hanging  flexed 
below  him,  was  shifted  from  and  had  instantly  to  regain 
his  equilibrium  at  every  movement  of  his  steed.  The  rider 
thus  reverted  to  the  primitive  and  subconscious  balancing 
practised  by  the  walker,  the  skater,  and  the  bicycler,  each 
of  whom  is  ever  righting  a  wrong  position.  The  horseman 
with  subconsciousness  thus  alert  sensed  through  the  stiff- 
ening muscles  of  his  animal  plan  for  untoward  action,  and 
thereby  was  forewarned  of  intended  whirls,  balks,  or  jumps. 

At  first  sight,  the  horseman  when  at  high  speed  appeared 
perhaps  a  bit  grotesque,  for  his  elbows  were  extended  to 
either  side,  were  held  even  with  his  shoulders  and  bobbed 
up  and  down,  his  hands  were  close  together  and  before  his 
chin,  his  legs  hung  loosely  and  straight  downward,  and  his 


136  THE  COWBOY 

relaxed  body,  never  rising  from  the  saddle,  swayed  in  seem- 
ing semidrunkenness.  At  second  sight,  the  observer  real- 
ized that  all  this  mutualized  the  rider  and  his  pony  into 
rhythmic  motion,  and  that  the  rider's  security  of  seat  came 
from  the  synchronizing  of  man  and  beast. 

This  attention  to  the  time  beat  was  what  insured  the 
seat  even  during  bucking,  the  spurs  and  buck  hooks  giving 
but  incidental  aid.  It  was  what  enabled  the  buckaroos  in 
graceful  swoops  to  lean  from  galloping  horses  and  pick  up 
objects  from  the  ground.  It  was  what  permitted  the  acro- 
batic puncher  to  drop  from  a  moving  animal  and  mount 
another  plunging  past. 

Finally,  the  stock-saddle  was  the  almost  universal  pillow 
of  the  sleeping  cowboy  whether  in  the  bunk  house  or  afield. 

It  was  on  such  a  saddle  that  Leon,  a  Mexican,  changing 
horses,  traversed  in  1876  one  hundred  miles  in  four  hours, 
fifty-seven  minutes;  in  1877,  five  hundred  and  five  miles 
in  forty-nine  hours,  fifty-one  and  one-half  minutes.  It  was 
on  such  a  saddle,  though  one  of  light  weight,  that,  in  a  still 
earlier  year,  F.  X.  Aubrey  of  the  Pony  Express  rode  across- 
country  eight  hundred  miles  in  five  days,  thirteen  hours. 

Those  homely-looking  leathern  structures  helped  to  make 
the  West,  and  should  be  regarded  with  affectionate  respect. 


CHAPTER  VII 

BRIDLE,  LARIAT,  AND  QUIRT 

THE  QUIRT  AND  ITS  USE — LARIAT,  ITS  NAMES,  FORM,  AND  USE — SECTIONAL 
DIFFERENCES  IN  ROPING  ABILITY — STAKE  ROPE  AND  HAIR  ROPE — PUTTO — 
PICKETING — ARGUMENTATIVENESS  OF  RANCHMEN — HOBBLING — BRIDLE, 
ITS  VARIOUS  FORMS — REINS — ^METHOD  OF  MOUNTING  HORSE — BUCKING 
— DISMOUNTING — ETIQUETTE  OF  DISMOUNT — BIT,  ITS  VARIOUS  FORMS  AND 
THEIR    NAMES — COW  HORSE — HACKAMORE — GHOST    CORD — TWITCH 

From  the  saddle's  horn  usually  hung  the  so-called  ^'quirf 
(from  Mexican  ^'cuarta,"  a  whip;  and  this,  in  turn,  from 
Spanish  ^^cuerda,''  a  cord),  a  flexible,  woven  leather  whip, 
which,  exclusive  of  its  lashes,  was  some  twelve  inches  in 
length.  Its  upper  end  ordinarily  was  filled  with  lead,  this 
'loading"  providing  means  to  strike  down  a  rearing  horse 
which  threatened  to  fall  backward.  To  its  lower  end  were 
attached  two  long  thongs  as  lashes.  A  loop  extending  from 
the  upper  end,  or  head,  provided  means  of  attachment  to 
either  the  rider's  wrist  or  the  saddle's  horn. 

In  some  sections  of  the  country  the  whip  consisted  of  a 
short  wooden  or  iron  stock  carrying  a  lash  a  yard  in  length. 

The  quirt,  occasionally  in  slang  termed  the  ^'quisto," 
was  all-important  to  the  man  who,  as  a  '^rough-riding 
bronco-buster,"  or,  as  sometimes  called,  a  ''flash  rider," 
broke  his  horses,  not  by  patiently  weaning  them  from  their 
desires,  but  by  "busting  their  spirit." 

Another  intimate  with  the  saddle  was  the  reata. 

"La  reata"  of  the  Mexicans  became  on  the  Range  the 
"reata"  (Spanish  for  rope),  "lariat"  (contraction  of  Span- 
ish "la  reata"),  "lasso"  (from  Spanish  "lazo"  meaning  a 
snare  or  sHp-knot),  or  "rope,"  though  the  word  lasso  very 

137 


138  THE  COWBOY 

rarely  was  used  and  then  only  by  visitors  from  California, 
and  when  employed  served  only  as  a  verb.  Rope  was  the 
usual  term,  with  reata,  particularly  in  Wyoming,  as  a  close 
second.  Lariat  and  rope,  like  lasso,  might  be  used  as  verbs; 
reata  might  not. 

So  much  for  the  dignified  synonyms.  '*Clothes-Hne," 
''lass  rope,"  and  ''string"  were  occasional  alternates. 

The  rope,  when  not  in  use,  was  gathered  into  a  coil  some 
eighteen  inches  in  diameter  and  hung  from  a  spot  which, 
below  the  base  of  the  horn,  was  on  whichever  side  of  the 
saddle  its  owner  preferred.  Some  men  used  the  near  side, 
other  men  the  off,  according  as  to  which  side  was  found 
the  more  convenient  for  rapidly  moving  hands.  The  thus 
stored  rope  was  held  in  position  by  passing  through  the 
hole  in  the  centre  of  the  coil  either  a  looped  thong,  the  two 
ends  of  which  were  permanently  attached  to  the  saddle,  or 
else  a  strap,  one  end  of  which  was  similarly  attached;  and 
then  either  dropping  the  loop  over  the  horn,  or  else  fast- 
ening the  strap^s  outer  end  to  a  metal  buckle  planted  at 
the  horn's  base. 

In  the  earher  days  of  the  Range  the  rope  was  made 
usually  of  buffalo-hide,  but  the  later  cowboys  threw  ropes 
of  rawhide  or,  particularly  in  Texas,  of  fine  hemp. 

If  of  hide,  they  commonly  were  a  half  inch  in  diameter 
and  were  braided  from  four  strands,  sometimes  from  as 
many  as  eight.  If  of  hemp,  their  diameter  ordinarily  was 
three-quarters  of  an  inch.  They  varied  in  length  from  a 
minimum  of  forty  to  a  maximum  of  seventy  feet. 

The  loop  was  formed  by  passing  one  end  of  the  rope 
through  the  "hondo"  at  the  rope's  other  end.  This  hondo, 
or,  as  often  called,  "honda,"  was  sometimes  a  cunningly 
devised,  knotted  or  spliced  eyelet,  each  in  the  rope  itself 
and  lined  with  smooth  leather;  sometimes  a  metal  ring; 
but  more  commonly  was  a  stout  rawhide  or  brass  object, 
shaped  Hke  an  inverted  letter  "U,''  with  a  bar  across  its 


BRIDLE,  LARIAT,  AND  QUIRT  139 

opening  and  firmly  attached,  at  the  middle  of  the  bar,  to 
the  rope. 

Lariats  varied  in  length,  not  only  because  of  the  differ- 
ing capabilities  or  preferences  of  their  wielders,  but  also 
because  of  differences  in  the  methods  of  using  them.  Al- 
though the  manner  of  enlarging  the  noose  and  throwing  it 
was  universally  the  same,  the  home  end  of  a  Texan's  rope 
very  commonly,  before  the  throw,  was  tied  by  a  half  hitch 
to  the  saddle  horn.  No  such  fastening  was  attempted  in 
the  far  Southwest  or  in  the  Northwest,  except  by  occasional 
men,  and  by  them  only  when  roping  animals  of  light  weight. 

Because  the  last  few  feet  at  the  home  end  of  a  thus  'Hied" 
lariat  were  necessarily  passive,  the  user  of  that  style  needed 
more  length  in  his  rope  than  did  the  man  who  threw  a 
''free"  reata  and  thus,  in  other  technical,  interchangeable 
terms  for  this  form  of  throw,  "dallied,"  "daled,''  "vuelted," 
"felted,"  or  "dale  vuelted,"  his  rope.  Each  of  these  five 
interchangeable  terms  was  derived,  seemingly,  from  the 
Spanish  phrase  "dar  la  vuelta,"  which  means  to  give  a  turn 
to  a  rope  or  to  belay  it. 

Practically  speaking,  the  Texan  used  a  long  lariat,  but 
actively  employed  only  a  part  of  it. 

Conscience  compels  the  reluctant  admission  that  the 
average  Southwesterner,  and  particularly  the  Texan,  not 
only  outthrew  but  also  outrode  his  more  northerly  average 
brother,  and  that  the  Mexicans  were  the  most  expert  of 
all.  The  Mexicans  outrode  as  regards  ability  to  stick  to 
the  horse's  back,  but  they  were  a  failure  as  producers  of 
well-broken  steeds.  Their  cruelty  begat  equine  cussedness 
that  never  was  outgrown. 

The  Mexicans,  however,  did  not  reach  that  limit  attained 
by  the  Apache  Indian  when  the  latter  not  infrequently 
rode  his  horse  to  exhaustion  and  then  dismounted  and  ate 
the  beast. 

Sometimes  the  puncher,  for  the  fastening  of  his  horse 


140  THE  COWBOY 

when  afield,  carried  on  his  saddle  a  hempen  stake-rope  or 
picket-rope,  or  else  bore  there  a  line  of  woven  horsehair. 

This  horsehair  line  was  useful  for  picketing,  and  laid 
about  one's  bed  was  supposed  to  keep  rattlesnakes  away. 
Tradition  had  it  that  certainly  no  snake,  and  probably  no 
centipede,  scorpion,  or  tarantula,  would  cross  its  scratchy 
surface. 

The  wooden  stake,  which  was  driven  into  the  ground 
and  to  which  one  end  of  the  picket-rope  was  attached,  was 
called  by  many  Texans  a  ^^putto,"  a  word  derivr  d  from  the 
French  ^'poteau,''  meaning  a  post. 

A  lariat  was  hesitatingly  used  for  picketing  I  ,^t  it  be  cut 
by  dragging  over  rocks;  although  when  new  it  would  be 
trailed  from  a  saddle's  horn,  and  thus,  under  human  over- 
sight, would  be  pulled  along  the  ground  in  order  to  induce 
suppleness. 

The  Western  world  divided  on  the  subject  of  picketing 
into  two  camps;  of  which  one  stoutly  maintained  that  a 
horse's  neck  was  the  only  place  proper  for  fastening  the 
rope,  the  other  sect  equally  holding  out  for  a  front  leg. 
Many  an  hour  in  many  a  place  was  spent  in  supporting  or 
attacking  the  alleged  merits  of  each  system.  The  mere 
fact  that  by  no  possibility  could  there  be  involved  any  ques- 
tion beyond  whether  it  were  his  animal's  neck  or  its  leg 
that  the  rider  preferred  to  jeopardize  never  curtailed  de- 
bate. 

This  subject  for  argimient  was  the  one  best  liked,  be- 
cause custom  permitted  that,  when  it  was  under  discussion, 
close  holding  to  the  title  was  not  compulsory.  Invariably 
sooner  or  later  somebody  interjected  the  collateral  title: 
'^WTiat  makes  a  pinto  the  hardest  bucker  of  all,  and  a  wall- 
eyed white  horse  the  next  hardest?"  The  propositions 
involved  in  this  quoted  collateral  title  were  traditional  and 
untrue,  but  were  powerful  producers  of  logic. 

At  times  the  debaters  would  stray  off  to  the  topics  as  to 


BRIDLE,  LARIAT,  AND  QUIRT  141 

what  hole  rent,  if  any,  the  owl  and  rattlesnake  paid  the 
prairie-dog,  as  to  the  comparative  merits  of  single-  and 
double-rigged  saddles,  and  as  to  why  all  Easterners  and 
Englishmen  were  so  ^'plimib  wuthless  and  ornery";  but 
sooner  or  later  picketing  and  the  wall-eyed  white  horse 
would  come  triumphantly  to  the  fore. 

Although  any  cowboy  gladly  would  drop  at  any  time  into 
a  picketing  debate,  he  ordinarily  did  not  picket  his  horse 
at  all,  but  instead  ' '  hobbled  ''it.  A  few  men  used  the  United 
States  Government's  form  of  '' hobble,"  a  leathern  cuff  buck- 
led about  each  of  the  fore  legs  above  the  pastern  joint,  the 
two  cuffs  being  connected  by  a  short,  swivelled  chain.  The 
great  majority  of  men  produced  the  same  result  through  a 
wide  band  of  cowskin  or  buckskin,  or,  more  commonly, 
through  the  diagonally  cut  half  of  a  gunny  grain  sack,  either 
of  them  so  applied  that  there  was  reproduced  by  knots  the 
effect  of  the  cuffs,  and  by  twists  a  rope  which  took  the  place 
of  the  chain.  With  the  cowskin  or  buckskin,  a  buttonhole 
and  wooden  button,  or  cross-stick,  sometimes,  were  sub- 
stituted for  the  final  knot. 

The  purpose  of  the  picket-rope  and  of  the  hobble  was 
self-evidently  to  hold  the  fettered  animal  at  its  rider's  camp. 
Hobbles  did  not  always  achieve  this  result,  for  many  horses 
became  proficient  in  a  ludicrous  but  effective  gait,  wherein 
the  hind  legs  walked  while  the  front  legs  coincidentally 
made  short  jiunps  forward.  An  adept  would  thus  hop  sev- 
eral miles  in  a  night.  Mares  were  the  worst  offenders  in 
this  hoppity-skip  method  of  flight.  To  forestall  this  retreat, 
some  brutes  were  hobbled  by  connecting  a  front  and  a  rear 
leg  instead  of  the  two  front  legs.  This  fore-and-aft  hobbling 
was  designated  as  "side-lining,"  unless  the  legs  involved 
were  on  opposite  sides  of  the  horse,  in  which  case  some  men 
called  it  "cross-hobbling." 

Picketing  and  hobbhng  were  employed  only  about  a 
camp.    At  the  ranch,  a  horse,  if  not  placed  in  a  corral,  was 


142  THE  COWBOY 

turned  loose,  to  be  rounded  up  when  needed.  He  and  his 
fellows  were  usually  content  to  stay  within  hearing  of  the 
bell,  which  ever  hung  from  the  neck  of  some  eminently  re- 
spectable old  horse  that  long  since  had  proved  its  unwil- 
lingness to  stray  far  from  home. 

The  bridle  and  bit  deserve  mention;  the  bridle  because 
of  the  specialized  form  of  its  reins;  the  bit  because,  to  speak 
enigmatically,  it  either  was  specialized  to  a  high  degree  or 
did  not  exist  at  all. 

The  bridle,  ^'head  stall,"  or,  as  the  West  often  termed  it, 
''bridle  head"  most  commonly  employed  was  in  form  like 
the  ordinary  equestrian  bridles  of  world-wide  use;  and  like 
them  comprised,  when  complete,  a  ''crown  piece,"  "brow- 
band,"  "throat  latch,"  and,  on  either  side,  a  "cheek-piece," 
and  had  no  special  characteristic  beyond  that  frequently 
the  brow-band  was  omitted,  and  not  uncommonly  hooks, 
instead  of  buckles,  were  used  for  attaching  the  bit.  These 
hooks,  one  on  each  side,  were  shaped  like  a  letter  "J,"  the 
shorter  stem  being  sewn  to  the  bottom  of  the  cheek-piece, 
while  the  longer  stem  rose  vertically  above  the  horse's 
mouth. 

Another  and  common  form  of  bridle  was  highly  special- 
ized. It  consisted  of  a  single  strap,  which  terminated  at 
each  end  either  in  a  buckle  or  in  such  a  hook  as  is  above 
described,  and  thus  was  fastened  to  the  bit.  The  strap  was 
passed  above  the  horse's  head  and  was  held  in  place  by  the 
simple  expedient  of  longitudinally  slitting  the  strap  far 
enough  to  permit  the  horse's  ears,  or  at  least  his  left  ear,  to 
project  through  the  slitted  opening.  The  strap,  in  order 
that  its  length  might  be  adjustable,  usually  was  in  two 
pieces,  which  were  connected  by  a  buckle. 

The  bridle,  whatever  its  form,  was  made  ordinarily  of 
straps;  but  sometimes  for  some  or  all  of  the  straps  were 
substituted  finely  plaited  leathern  strips  or  else  cords  of 
braided  horsehair.    The  bridle  was  subject  to  be  ornamented 


BRIDLE,  LARIAT,  AND  QUIRT  143 

at  the  horse's  ears  by  conchas,  and  throughout  by  tassels 
and  pendants  of  horsehair  or  leather.  A  few  men  possessed 
bridles  made  wholly  of  woven  silver  wire,  but  these  ornate 
constructions  were  used  only  in  affairs  of  state  such  as  love- 
making  and  holiday  trips  to  rival  ranches  or  to  town. 

The  reins,  but  one  on  each  side  of  the  horse,  were,  at  the 
saddle  end,  either  ^Hied,"  i.  e.,  fastened  together  (if  so,  not 
uncommonly  continuing  into  a  flexible  whip  which  thus 
attached  was  called  a  ^^romal")?  or  else  they  were  left  ''un- 
tied." Most  men  preferred  this  latter  form,  as  with  untied 
reins  a  rider,  when  thrown,  was  spared  the  danger  of  being 
entangled;  and  furthermore,  a  bridled  horse  turned  loose 
was  little  apt  to  be  ensnared  in  brush. 

Rarely  was  a  Western  horse  made  fast  to  anything  after 
his  rider  had  dismounted.  Usually  the  reins  were  merely 
thrown  directly  forward  over  the  horse's  head  and  allowed 
to  hang  downward  from  the  bit  and  to  the  ground.  The 
animal  was  then  at  Uberty  to  wander  about  and  graze,  and 
would  make  the  most  of  this  opportunity  unless  the  reins, 
when  thus  thrown,  had  fallen  across  a  tree  limb  or  the  bar 
of  a  hitching  rack.  In  this  latter  contingency  the  horse 
almost  never  questioned  appearances;  and,  convinced  that 
he  was  firmly  fastened,  fearful  lest  he  make  a  pull  upon 
his  cruel  bit,  was  wont  to  stand  patiently  with  sagging  head 
for  hours  at  a  time  before  a  horizontal  branch  or  spar,  and 
to  attempt  no  more  activity  than  an  occasional  nibble  at 
his  fancied  cross. 

Presently  out  came  his  rider,  who,  picking  up  the  reins, 
was  careful  not  to  replace  them  over  the  horse's  head  until 
ready  to  mount,  for  reins  over  the  head  was  the  equine  start- 
ing gong. 

The  nag  was  led  away  from  the  rack.  The  rider,  stand- 
ing in  front  of  the  near  shoulder  of  the  animal  and  facing 
toward  its  tail,  seized  with  his  right  hand  the  near  stirrup, 
twisted  it  half-way  around,  and  held  it  in  that  position. 


144  THE  COWBOY 

The  left  hand  threw  the  reins  over  the  horse's  head  and 
simultaneously  caught  the  horn.  That  same  moment  the 
left  foot  went  into  the  stirrup.  Instantly  thereafter  the 
right  hand  either  also  clutched  the  horn  or  else  swung  at 
the  end  of  a  fully  extended  arm,  four  hoofs  moved,  and  the 
rider  was  fairly  snapped  into  the  saddle. 

Sometimes,  and  particularly  with  a  horse  prone  to  lunge 
to  the  rear,  this  method  of  mounting  was  varied  to  the  ex- 
tent of  seizing,  with  the  left  hand,  either  the  horse's  left 
withers,  or  the  bridle* s  left  cheek-piece,  while  the  right  hand 
grabbed  the  horn. 

Some  athletic  men,  scorning  the  stirrup,  trusted  wholly 
to  their  grip  upon  the  horn,  leaped  from  ground  to  saddle, 
and  thus  made  a  so-called  ^'flying"  or  '^ running"  mount; 
what  the  programmes  at  modern  Wild  West  shows  term 
a  Pony  Express  moimt. 

In  any  of  these  forms  the  animal's  quick  start  was  for 
a  competent  rider  an  aid  to  mounting,  because  the  jerk 
it  created  tended  to  throw  the  rider  upward. 

Swift  movement  by  the  mounter  was  necessary,  for  other- 
wise his  horse  might  innocently  move  from  under  him,  and 
furthermore  so  thoroughly  might  resent  slow  motion  as  to 
begin  to  buck. 

The  reason  for  this  particular  resentment  was  that  Range 
horses  as  a  class  were  creatures  of  habit,  and,  however  docile 
when  meeting  accustomed  conditions,  nevertheless  were 
apt  to  object  to  any  happening  that  was  unusual.  They 
had  been  broken  at  high  speed,  and  expected  its  continu- 
ance. Objection  ordinarily  was  expressed  in  terms  of  pitch- 
ing. 

All  ranchmen  while  breaking  a  horse  stood  at  the  latter's 
left  when  placing  the  saddle  on  the  brute's  back,  and  made 
the  mount  not  only  with  swiftness  but  also,  and  unlike  In- 
dians, always  on  the  animal's  near  side. 

Ever  afterward,  it  was  on  its  near  side  that  the  thus  semi- 


BRIDLE,  LARIAT,  AND  QUIRT  145 

broken  Range  horse  expected  human  beings  to  effect  their 
initial  close  approach.  As  a  result,  if  a  prudent  ranchman 
had  occasion  before  mounting  to  make  a  saddle  adjust- 
ment on  his  steed's  off  side,  he  would  open  negotiations 
from  the  beast's  opposite  flank,  and  then  half  circumnavi- 
gate the  brute,  preferably  by  the  head  rather  than  the  heels 
route.  Under  the  latter  circumstances  the  horse,  suspicious, 
would  preserve  an  armed  neutrality,  but  would  stand  ready 
to  repel  boarders  from  the  right. 

Usually  before  mounting,  the  right  rein  was  held  in  shorter 
grip  than  was  the  left,  this  tending  not  only  to  prevent  bites 
but  also  to  swing  the  starting  horse  under  the  ascending 
rider.  Neglect  of  this  precaution  has  laid  prostrate  more 
than  one  tyro,  whose  horse,  with  no  motive  save  impatience, 
has  "whirled"  and  thus,  Uke  a  compass  needle,  changed  its 
direction  but  not  its  locality. 

The  reins  always  at  the  mount  were  kept  fairly  taut. 
A  horse  was  more  apt  to  buck  at  the  moment  of  mounting 
than  at  any  other  time,  and  he  could  not  buck  with  satis- 
faction to  himseff  unless  allowed  to  put  his  head  between 
his  front  legs,  to  "stick  his  bill  in  the  ground."  The  top 
of  his  horse's  head  was  a  pleasing  sight  to  the  man  half- 
way into  saddle,  and  few  in  this  defenseless  position  re- 
sented the  absence  of  that  taunting  warning:  "Good-night, 
Ears." 

All  this  relates  to  the  mounting  of  aheady  "gentled" 
animals,  or  of  animals  which,  although  never  previously 
ridden,  tacitly  promised  reasonably  decent  behavior. 

Brutes  suggesting  "trouble,"  supposed  to  be  "mean 
horses,"  were  saddled,  bridled,  and  mounted  while  impotent 
under  the  imprisonment  of  the  reata,  and  frequently  while 
"bhnded"  by  a  cloth  tied  over  the  eyes.  Either  a  lariat 
about  each  foot  pulled  the  latter  to  either  side,  with  also 
the  front  feet  well  forward,  the  hind  feet  equally  far  to  the 
rear,  thus  reducing  a  virile  entity  to  the  plane  of  a  flare- 


146  THE  COWBOY 

legged,  sway-backed  table;  or  else  a  lariat  about  both  front 
legs,  a  second  reata  about  both  hind  legs,  drawing  them  to 
front  and  rear,  threw  the  animal  prostrate  on  his  flank.  The 
rider  climbed  into  the  saddle  upon  the  momentary  table, 
or  stood  astride  over  the  prostrate  if  latent  earthquake, 
and  called  ^' shoot,"  'Hurn  lose,"  ''ease  up,"  'Hhrow  off," 
or  ''let  her  go."  In  any  case,  "she  went  wide,  high,  and 
pretty,"  and  "rolUcked  all  over  the  lot,"  while  from  the 
side-lines  came  much  unwelcome  advice  to  "stay  with  it," 
to  "cinch  her  when  she  bucks,"  to  "rise  to  the  trot,"  to 
"tickle  her  feet,"  to  "waltz  with  the  lady,"  to  "throw  in 
your  hooks";  comments  such  as  "frolicsome  little  beast," 
"real  hunk  o^  death,"  and  "cutey,  little  grave-digger";  and 
came  also  perhaps  the  babyhood  message  of  "upadaisa." 

Upon  the  signal  the  human  ends  of  the  holding-ropes 
had  "eased  up,"  the  "blind,"  if  any,  had  been  snatched 
off,  and  the  theretofore  leashed  beast  slowly  kicking  free 
from  its  bonds  suddenly  had  reaUzed  its  freedom  and  had 
acted  accordingly. 

It  is  stated  above  that  a  horse,  to  buck  with  satisfaction 
to  himself,  should  insert  his  head  between  his  knees.  Upon 
moimting  an  animal  that  was  standing  and  was  free  from 
the  grip  of  any  lariat,  the  rider,  if  attentive  to  drawing  in 
the  reins,  could  hold  up  the  beast's  head  and  so  discount 
a  plan  to  pitch;  but  human  ingenuity  never  evolved  a 
scheme  for  controlling  a  fettered  horse's  neck  and  divorc- 
ing the  brute  from  his  wish  to  bathe  his  rider  in  the  stars. 
A  horse,  if  held  by  lariats  and  standing  with  legs  pulled  to 
front  and  rear,  was  compelled,  for  keeping  his  balance,  to 
stretch  his  neck  forward  and  downward.  This  gave  him  a 
gambling  chance,  which  he  almost  invariably  won  as  against 
his  rider;  for  the  horse  could  move  his  head  still  a  few  more 
inches  downward  before  the  rider  could  drag  it  rearward. 
The  head  once  getting  low  enough,  pulling  on  the  reins  made 
matters  worse,  for  this  tended  not  to  raise  the  head  but  to 


BRIDLE,  LARIAT,  AND  QUIRT  147 

haul  it  directly  toward  the  horse^s  knees.  A  horse,  if  held 
by  lariats  and  if  prone,  had  to  be  given  free  rein  that  he 
might  rise,  and  this  free  rein  rarely  could  be  drawn  in  be- 
fore the  brute^s  head  started  toward  the  danger  point. 

Often  a  careless  rider  already  safely  mounted,  having 
thus  far  held  his  animaFs  head  above  what  physicists  well 
might  term  the  centre  of  deviltry,  let  loose  the  reins,  to 
see  an  equine  head  go  down  and  feel  a  human  form  go  up. 

Westerners  usually  dismounted  as  rapidly  as  they 
mounted,  employing  for  the  purpose  either  a  single  stirrup 
or  none  at  all.  The  rider,  whether  using  or  scorning  a  stir- 
rup, might  with  one  or  both  hands  grasp  the  saddle  horn, 
and,  during  the  descent,  swing  his  body  so  violently  that 
as  his  leading  foot  struck  the  earth  he  would  spin  part  of 
the  way  around  and  face  almost  with  the  horse.  He  also, 
if  acrobatic,  might  make  a  running  dismount  by  throwing 
a  leg  over  the  horn  and  sliding  diagonally  forward  and  to 
the  ground.  At  high  speed,  this  exit  from  the  saddle  re- 
quired skill.  With  the  horse  walking,  it  was  a  common 
route,  but  then  it  lost  its  title  of  '^running  dismount." 

Dismounts  were  made  ordinarily  on  the  horse^s  near 
side.  However,  if  the  rider  were  quick  in  his  motions,  his 
animal,  without  undue  opposition,  would  allow  him  to  use 
the  off-side  route.  This  equine  tolerance  arose  from  the 
fact  that,  though  the  horse  might  make  violent  objection 
to  being  mounted  on  the  off  side  and  so  receiving  its  load 
by  an  unconventional  avenue,  it  did  not  deem  to  be  equally 
important  the  direction  by  which  the  load  left,  provided 
it  surely  and  speedily  departed. 

This  off-side  egress  nevertheless  might  have  human  ob- 
jectors, for,  in  some  parts  of  the  Range,  notably  in  Texas, 
it  was  an  insult  to  a  man  for  a  rider  to  go  near  him  and  with- 
out apparent  excuse  to  dismount  to  the  rider's  right.  It 
suggested  that  the  rider  intended  to  employ  the  body  of 
his  horse  as  a  protective  breastwork,  to  *'roll  his  gun," 


148  THE  COWBOY 

which  is  to  say,  'Ho  set  his  gun  agoing,"  and  thereby  to 
''put  windows  in  the  skulF'  of  the  citizen  thus  rudely  ap- 
proached. The  affronted  citizen  would  be  justified,  if  he 
"dug  for"  his  own  "blue  lightning,"  "talking  iron,"  "lead- 
pusher,"  or  "flame-thrower,"  and  "unravelled  some  car- 
tridges." 

Even  when  about  to  dismount  on  the  near  side,  a  rider, 
if  in  the  presence  of  strangers,  usually  saw  to  it  that  he  on 
aUghting  should  not  have  his  horse  between  himself  and 
the  strangers.  Courtesy  forbade  the  seeming  barricade. 
So,  before  dismounting,  he  ordinarily  took  pains  either  to 
halt  to  the  right  of  the  strangers  or  else  to  turn  his  horse 
into  proper  position. 

A  very  few  ranchmen,  principally  Englishmen,  used  ordi- 
nary bits  of  snaffle  or  straight  bar  form,  but  such  men  were 
negligible  in  number. 

The  bit  regularly  employed  was  often  a  thing  of  beauty, 
and  always  an  instrument  of  latent  torture.  Artisans  were 
wont  to  fashion  into  intricate  designs  the  cheek-pieces 
and  the  bar  or  chain  connecting  them  at  their  bottom  ends, 
to  garnish  them  with  gold  and  silver  inlay,  and  to  apply 
conchas  wherever  there  was  room.  Derived  by  the  Range 
directly  from  Mexico,  the  bit  was  of  the  Spanish  and  earher 
Moorish  type,  either  in  pure  form  or  modified,  as  its  owner 
saw  fit,  and  according  to  the  absence  or  extent  of  these  modi- 
fications it  was  classified  as  "ring  bit,"  "spade  bit,"  or 
"half-breed  bit." 

If  the  bar  in  the  horse^s  mouth  humped  up  in  the  middle 
like  a  narrow  croquet  wicket  for  two  or  two  and  a  half  inches 
in  height,  and  within  this  hump,  or  port,  were  a  "roller," 
that  is  a  vertical  wheel  with  broad  and  corrugated  rim,  and 
there  were  added  no  other  attachment  save  possibly  a  curb 
chain,  the  bit  was  "half-breed." 

If,  for  the  hump,  there  were  substituted  a  "spade,"  a 
piece  shaped  like  a  broad  screw-driver  three  to  four  inches 


BRIDLE,  LARIAT,  AND  QUIRT  149 

in  length  and  bent  backward  at  its  top,  there  was  thereby 
created  a  ''spade  bit.'^  This  was  the  bit  most  commonly 
used.  Not  content  with  attacking  merely  the  roof  of  the 
mouth,  the  severity  of  the  latter  bit  ordinarily  was  aug- 
mented by  inserting  in  the  spade,  at  its  bottom  or  at  both 
its  top  and  bottom,  a  *' roller,"  and  by  adding  two  wires 
for  which  there  was  no  particular  name  and  which,  closely 
strung  with  short  metal  tubes,  extended  from  the  sides  of 
the  spade  to  the  inner  sides  of  the  cheek-pieces.  The  wires 
and  spade  punished  respectively  the  cheeks  and  the  roof 
of  the  mouth.  In  rare  instances  the  top  of  the  spade  was 
sharply  notched. 

More  than  merely  an  occasional  man  employed  a  metal 
ring  which,  fastened  at  the  top  of  the  port  or  near  the  sum- 
mit of  the  spade,  according  as  to  which  was  present,  and 
passing  through  the  horse's  mouth,  surrounded  the  lower 
jaw.  This  ring,  more  common  in  the  Southwest  than  in 
the  Northwest,  gradually  tended  to  disappear  from  both 
these  sections,  but  remained  in  general  use  in  Mexico.  The 
presence  of  this  ring  gave  to  the  bit,  despite  any  other  at- 
tachment the  latter  might  have,  the  generic  name  of  ''ring 
bit." 

Fiends  at  times  added  to  all  these  things  barbed  wire, 
and  exulted  in  the  "tool-chest"  thus  produced;  but  fiends 
were  frowned  upon. 

The  reins  were  fastened,  usually,  not  to  the  bit  itself  but 
to  chains  six  inches  or  so  in  length  and  depending  from  it. 
The  pony  could  not  chew  the  chains  asunder,  and  further- 
more they  gave  forth  a  pleasant,  clanking  noise. 

The  function  of  the  bit  was  to  suggest  physical  suffering 
rather  than  to  cause  it.  During  an  animaFs  good  behavior, 
his  reins  sagged  in  his  rider's  hand,  since  every  broken  horse 
was  bridlewise,  and  turned  to  right  or  left  at  the  sHghtest 
pressure  of  the  appropriate  rein  upon  his  neck.  A  strand 
of  yarn  would  have  sufficed  to  guide  the  beast.    He  was 


150  THE  COWBOY 

thus  tractable  because  he  ever  kept  in  mind  the  latent  pos- 
sibiHties  of  the  contents  of  his  mouth.  Incidentally,  though 
he  instantly  would  have  turned  to  the  right  if  the  left  rein 
were  pressed  against  his  neck's  left  side,  he  would  not  have 
comprehended  the  meaning  of  a  pull  upon  the  right  rein 
alone. 

Even  stopping  a  horse  produced  almost  no  strain  upon 
the  reins.  The  stop  usually  was  brought  about  not  so  much 
through  the  rider's  pulhng  with  his  left  hand,  however 
feebly,  upon  the  reins,  as  it  was  through  his  coincidently 
raising  his  right  hand  to  the  lariat-throwmg  position,  and 
perhaps,  at  the  same  time,  prosaically  saying  ^^whoa." 

All  broken  horses  were  thus  ^^bridlewise,"  and  most  of 
them  would  respond  also  to  guiding  signals  given  by  the 
rider's  legs  or  hands.  A  push  on,  say,  the  right  side,  if  made 
near  the  animal's  hind  leg,  would  turn  him  to  the  right, 
while,  if  made  on  the  shoulder  or  neck,  it  would  turn  him 
to  the  left. 

In  times  of  equine  peacefulness,  the  bridled  pony  steadily 
champed  the  roller  of  his  bit,  which,  until  the  reins  were 
tightly  pulled,  was  a  pleasant  thing  upon  which  to  work 
the  tongue  and  emitted  an  amusing,  rattling  noise.  In 
caterance  to  this  desire  of  the  Western  horse  for  constant, 
familiar  and  pleasant  sound  to  break  the  otherwise  awe- 
some silence,  there  was  devised  the  '^cricket,"  a  little 
''roller"  which  was  inserted  in  a  colt's  bit  and  produced 
small  result  beyond  a  chirping  noise. 

The  highly  trained  horses  ridden  when  stock  was  being 
tended  and  the  lariat  was  swinging,  called  ''cow-ponies" 
by  the  Northwesterner,  "cow-horses"  by  the  Texan,  were 
accustomed  to  stop  short  as  the  reata  left  the  thrower's 
hand,  and  fairly  to  snap  themselves  into  a  posture  akin 
to  that  of  a  sitting  bear.  A  horse  of  this  ilk  mentally  asso- 
ciated the  lariat  with  all  movements  of  the  rider,  so  that 
either  quickly  extending  an  arm  from  the  side,  or  else  a  sud- 


BRIDLE,  LARIAT,  AND  QUIRT  151 

den  raising  of  the  reins,  was  apt  to  shoot  the  animal  into  a 
burst  of  speed,  while  he  was  as  prone  to  stop,  almost  in  his 
tracks,  upon  the  vertical  raising  of  a  hand.  Often  has  a 
friendly  wave  by  the  empty  hand  of  an  equestrian  novice 
sent  him  ''grass-hunting"  through  the  sudden  jump,  or 
equally  sudden  stop,  which  was  ordered  but  not  expected. 

The  antithesis  of  the  severe  bit  was  the  ''hackamore" 
(from  Spanish  ''jaquima,"  a  halter).  This  was  sometimes 
an  ordinary  halter  which  carried  reins  instead  of  a  leading 
rope,  and  which  offered  to  the  rider  no  more  control  over 
his  horse  than  mere  pressure  on  the  beast^s  neck  could  ef- 
fect. More  commonly  it  was  a  bridle  which  had,  in  lieu  of 
a  bit,  a  so-called  ''bosaV  a  leathern,  rawhide,  or  metal  ring 
around  the  horse's  head  immediately  above  the  mouth. 
The  reins  were  attached  to  the  bosal,  and  their  pulling 
operated  to  shut  off  the  horse's  wind.  English  ranchmen 
occasionally  called  the  bosal  a  ''cavezon." 

The  bosal  stayed  in  position  through  being  attached  both 
to  the  bridle's  two  cheek-pieces  and  also  to  a  looped  cord 
commonly  made  of  braided  horsehair,  and  passing  from  the 
bosal's  front  upward  and  over  the  top  of  the  horse's  head. 
This  cord  was  termed  the  ''fiador,"  or  sometimes,  in  cor- 
rupted form,  the  'Hheodore." 

The  hackamore,  even  when  rigged  to  its  limit  of  efficiency, 
did  not  possess  the  bit's  cruel  possibihties,  but  commonly 
was  used  on  the  initial  ridings  of  a  horse  which  was  in  the 
process  of  being  broken.  Some  riders  continued  its  use 
on  their  broken  animals,  ruUng  their  horses  more  through 
exercise  of  human  personality  than  through  mechanical 
means. 

Mere  leading  halters,  whether  in  the  form  of  the  Eastern 
stable  halter  with  a  short  rope  attached  or  else  evolved  out 
of  various  turns  and  knots  in  a  longer  and  continuous  piece 
of  fine,  often  were,  in  the  loose  language  of  the  Range,  termed 
hackamores. 


152  THE  COWBOY 

The  hackamore,  whether  used  for  riding  or  for  leading, 
might,  Uke  the  bit,  have  alUed  with  it  an  ilHcit  companion, 
the  ''ghost  cord,"  a  thin  string  tied  about  the  tongue  and 
gums,  and  thence  passed  below  the  lower  jaw  and  up  to 
the  rider's  hand.  This  string  with  its  ingeniously  devised 
ties  was,  in  competent  hands,  an  instrument  of  either  mental 
diversion  or  extreme  cruelty.  Specially  effective  forms  of 
it  known  to  some  men  were  jealously  guarded  by  the  latter 
as  secrets  of  value. 

This  ghost  cord  should  not  be  confused  with  the  ''twitch" 
or  "twister,"  although  the  latter  abomination  sometimes 
used  by  "rough-riders"  was  on  occasion  called  a  ghost  cord. 
The  twitch  was  a  small  loop  of  cord  with  a  stick  through  it, 
and  was  employed  to  punish  a  held  horse.  The  loop  was 
placed  vertically  around  the  animal's  upper  lip,  and  then 
was  tightened  I  y  twisting  the  stick.  Often  the  horse  would 
fairly  scream  from  pain. 

There  thus  have  been  inspected  almost  all  of  the  cow- 
boy's paraphernalia,  and  it  is  time  to  meet  him  face  to  face 
and  to  see  him  in  action. 


CHAPTER  VIII 
EQUIPMENT  AND  FURNISHINGS 

ITS  VARIOUS  FORMS  AND 
NAMES — ITS  LOAD — ^VARIOUS  HITCHES — ^WAR  SACKS  AND  POKES — ALFORJAS 

— HORSE-TRADING STEALING    OF    LIVE     STOCK — ITS    PUNISHMENT — LONG 

HAIR — VIGILANCE  COMMITTEE  AND  ITS  PUNISHMENTS — SCENES  ON  THE 
TRAIL — RANCH  BUILDINGS — TANK  —  GO  DEVIL — CORRALS  —  ABSENCE  OF 
FIELDS  —  EGGS  —  PERSONNEL  —  VISITORS  —  PETS  —  READING  —  MUSIC  — 
LIGHTING 

A  COWBOY  was  hired  to  work  at  a  ranch.  He  arrived 
there,  wearing  clothes  such  as  have  been  described,  and 
mounted  on  a  horse  with  accoutrements  such  as  have  been 
outhned.  If  he  had  further  personal  belongings — and  these 
the  West  called  his  ^'plunder,''  as  the  East  termed  them 
'^ dunnage"  or  "duffle,"  he  would  be  accompanied  by  a 
second  horse  bearing  on  a  pack-saddle  parcels  of  modest 
size. 

The  cowboy's  extra  belongings  would  be  scant  in  num- 
ber, would  include  few,  if  any,  luxuries  and  certainly  few 
useless  objects  beyond  possibly  some  ore  specimens. 

Each  of  such  useless  objects  and  of  such  luxuries,  par- 
ticularly if  it  were  small  in  size  or  novel  in  construction, 
was  apt  to  be  called  a  "dofunny."  This  word  in  its  plural 
form  of  "dofunnies"  might  be  given  a  wider  significance, 
and  denote  also  the  entire  personal  belongings  regardless 
of  their  character.  When  used  in  this  sense,  it  was  synony- 
mous with  ''plunder." 

The  West  employed  two  types  of  pack-saddle,  respec- 
tively designated  as  the  "cross-buck  saddle"  (usually  con- 
tracted into  "cross-buck")  and  the  "apar^jo." 

The  cross-buck  was  named  from  its  similarity  to  the  frame 
known  as  cross-buck  or  sawhorse  and  used  by  wood-cutters, 

153 


154  THE  COWBOY 

and  was  the  usual  civilian  pack-saddle.  The  apar^jo  rarely 
appeared  save  in  the  Southwest  or  upon  the  federal  govern- 
ment's animals. 

The  cross-buck  consisted  of  two  short,  parallel  planks 
connected  together  at  each  of  their  two  ends  by  a  stubby, 
wooden,  Saint  Andrew's  cross,  which  rose  vertically  and 
fronted  at  a  right-angle  to  the  saddle's  length.  To  these 
two  crosses  were  fastened  the  ropes  that  held  the  pack  in 
position  during  the  time  that  its  principal  fastening,  the 
so-called  ^4ash  rope,"  was  being  appHed.  The  saddle  laid 
upon  padding  and  lengthwise  of  the  horse's  back,  one  plank 
on  either  side  of  the  animal's  spine,  was  fastened  to  the 
brute  by  two  cinches.  The  saddle  was  always  double- 
rigged. 

The  apar^jo  was  a  stuffed,  leathern  pad  which  covered 
the  back  of  the  horse  and  both  his  sides. 

Whichever  form  of  saddle  was  employed,  its  load  was 
made  secure  by  a  lash  rope,  which  was  a  continuous  line 
some  thirty  feet  in  length,  was  cunningly  interlaced  about 
the  load,  and  was  connected  with  each  end  of  a  special  cinch 
that  rested  below  the  horse's  chest.  One  species  of  this 
interlacing,  if  made  in  strict  accord  with  established  formula, 
produced  on  top  of  the  pack  the  figure  of  a  diamond,  and 
thus  gave  to  this  species  its  name  of  *' diamond  hitch."  It 
would  be  so  called  regardless  of  whether  it  were  either  a 
^'  one-man  diamond,"  or  else  took  the  shghtly  different  weav- 
ings  of  a '' two-man"  or  "government"  "diamond."  The 
hitch,  when  correctly  thrown,  was  remarkable  for  its  ability 
to  absorb  the  slackness  generated  at  any  particular  point, 
and  firmly  to  imprison  the  held  packages  within  its  grasp. 

It  was  regarded  with  considerable  respect  because  it  had 
been  so  great  a  factor  in  Western  transportation.  Con- 
sequently, the  Cattle  Country  resented  the  sight  of  a 
sloppily  thrown  diamond,  just  as  it  resented  the  sight  of 
an  untidily  rigged  saddle,  just  as  every  one  everywhere 


EQUIPMENT  AND  FURNISHINGS  155 

resents  the  appearance  of  a  military  uniform  worn  awry. 
As  soon  as  a  tenderfoot  succeeded  in  throwing  a  diamond 
hitch  upon  a  pack,  he  thereby  ceased  to  be  a  tenderfoot. 
Every  Westerner  shot  a  glance  at  the  lashing  on  every  laden 
pack-animal  he  passed,  and,  when  he  spied  the  hammock- 
hke,  rope-consuming  weavings  by  a  pilgrim,  he  grinned. 

No  self-respecting  man  would  speak  of  tying  a  diamond. 
It  always  was  described  as  'Hhrown,"  though  the  so-called 
*' squaw  hitch, '^  another  rope-weaving  for  attaching  a  pack, 
might  be  'thrown,''  or  'Hied,"  or  made  fast  by  any  word 
the  speaker  selected. 

The  arriving  cowboy's  parcels  with  their  ''plunder"  con- 
tents doubtless  consisted  of  commercial  gunny-sacks  which 
had  been  promoted  from  their  original  function  of  holding 
grain  to  that  of  serving  as  travelling-bags;  and  which,  when 
in  the  latter  role,  commonly  were  termed  "war  sacks," 
though  they  sometimes,  in  the  Northwest,  were  called 
"pokes,"  or  else  "porfleshes,"  or  "parfleshes,"  this  last  term, 
whichever  way  spelled,  being  a  corruption  of  the  dictionary's 
word,  "parfleche." 

Incidentally,  throughout  the  West,  the  word  "sack" 
almost  wholly  displaced  the  word  "bag,"  and  this  latter 
word  was  used  rarely  save  as  a  verb  and  in  the  sense  of  "to 
capture." 

The  war  sacks  were  laid  directly  upon  the  pack-saddle, 
one  on  each  of  its  sides  and  one  atop  it,  unless  the  cowboy 
happened  to  be  in  the  Southwest.  In  which  latter  event, 
all  or  a  part  of  the  parcels  might  have  been  stuffed  into 
"alforjas,"  which  were  wide,  leathern  or  canvas  bags,  one 
on  either  side  of  the  animal  and  hanging  from  the  crosses 
on  the  saddle's  top. 

That  Spanish  word  alforja  suffered  much  from  American 
spelling,  for  it  was  forced  to  appear  also  as  "alforge,"  "  all- 
forche,"  "aKorki,"  "alforka,"  and  in  divers  other  forms. 

If  our  cowboy  owned  the  horses  with  which  he  arrived, 


156  THE  COWBOY 

he  turned  them  into  a  corral,  that  they  might  accustom 
themselves  to  the  neighborhood  and  cease  desire  to  '^  strike 
out"  for  their  former  home.  But  probably  the  horses  as 
well  as  the  pack-saddle  had  been  borrowed  either  from  our 
friend's  last  employer,  or  from  some  more  neighboring 
ranchman  who  had  provided  substitutions  for  what  the 
more  distant,  late  employer  originally  had  loaned. 

While  a  cowboy  invariably  furnished  his  lariat,  bridle, 
riding  saddle,  and  his  clothing  other  than  possibly  cap  and 
overcoat  of  fur,  he  rarely  owned  the  horses  on  which  he 
rode.  He  was  hired  to  ride  other  people's  animals,  and 
seldom  was  the  proprietor  of  any  hve  stock.  This  infre- 
quency  of  proprietorship  prevented  him  from  more  often 
than  very  occasionally  setting  to  profitable  use  the  combina- 
tion of  his  knowledge  of  horse-flesh  and  his  gambhng  pro- 
cUvity.  Then,  to3,  only  village-dwellers,  farmers,  and  pass- 
ing Indians  ofifered  a  trading  field.  Otherwise,  the  classic, 
horse-swapping  deacon  of  the  bucolic  novels  would  have 
had  a  rival. 

Bud  Jackson,  at  daybreak,  left  a  New  Mexican  ranch 
and  returned  to  it  soon  after  nightfall.  He  departed  and 
returned  upon  the  same  gaunt,  buckskin  horse.  Old  Buck; 
but,  in  the  interim  of  mere  hours.  Bud  had  made  eleven 
horse  trades,  in  each  of  them  obtaining  a  Uttle  cash.  In 
the  first  trade  he  had  exchanged  Old  Buck  for  a  bay  pony 
and  five  doUars.  Then  Bud,  in  rapid  succession  and  for 
short  terms,  owned  pintos,  roans,  and  brutes  of  other  colors. 
Finally,  just  after  dark  when  close  scrutiny  was  difficult, 
he  swapped  to  an  unsuspecting  Englishman  a  sleek  but 
useless  animal  in  return  for  good  Old  Buck  and  a  bit 
of  money.  Thirty-seven  dollars  represented  the  earnings  of 
the  day. 

Horses  and  never  cattle  were  the  subjects  of  such  trades. 
The  puncher,  like  the  Eastern  deacon,  could  see  no  sporting 
element  in  swapping  cows,  and  thus  never  attempted  it. 


EQUIPMENT  AND  FURNISHINGS  157 

But  we  must  return  to  our  friend,  the  newly  hired  cow- 
boy, who,  despite  our  loquaciousness,  is  endeavoring  for  our 
benefit  to  arrive  with  his  saddle-horse  and  pack-animal. 

If  our  friend  had  borrowed  his  horses,  both  of  the  latter 
would  be  stripped  of  all  their  trappings  and  turned  loose, 
to  make  inquisitive  approach  to  other  horses  grazing  with- 
in sight,  indignantly  to  be  rebuffed,  and  then  with  injured 
mien  to  begin  in  single  file  their  homeward  trip.  The  pack- 
saddle  would  be  returned  to  its  owner  at  the  first  convenient 
opportunity  and  without  fail. 

The  term  *' borrowed,"  as  employed  a  few  lines  since,  was 
not  intended  to  convey  any  sinister  suggestion.  While 
horses  willingly  were  lent,  nobody  but  a  thief  would  take 
one  however  temporarily  or  however  far  out  on  the  Range, 
unless  with  the  owner's  clear  permission  or  unless  the  taker 
were  in  real  distress,  a  distress  so  real  that  he  dared  risk 
that  its  patency  later  could  exculpate  him.  Robbing  a 
rider  of  his  horse  easily  might  effect  in  a  sparsely  watered 
country  the  most  cruel  form  of  destroying  human  life.  The 
West  in  self-defense  refused  to  permit  a  thief  to  plead  that 
his  steaHng  had  been  done  under  humane  conditions,  that 
the  crime  had  not  put  any  one  afoot,  and  with  conunon 
voice  prescribed  the  punishment. 

Wherefore  horse-stealing  earned  either  death  by  hang- 
ing, or,  if  the  vigilance  committee  were  tolerant,  life  banish- 
ment from  'Hhese  parts,''  preceded  often  in  the  latter  case 
by  loss  of  the  upper  half  of  an  ear,  a  mark  which  was  dis- 
tinguishing and  lasted  to  the  grave. 

Long  hair  could  overhang  the  scar,  but  long  hair  in  itself 
was  regarded  as  suggesting  this  purpose  of  screening  or 
else  as  indicating  a  desire  to  be  in  appearance  though  not 
in  fact  quite  *' tough  and  wild."  Consequently  long  hair 
did  not  meet  with  pubUc  approval.  A  man  with  a  '4oad 
of  hay  on  his  skull"  might  be  an  actual  ''bad  man,"  but 
usually  he  was  diagnosed  as  being  either  weak-minded  or 


158  THE  COWBOY 

a  mere  ''bluffer."  Long  hair  was  of  course  permissible  to 
any  one  who  wished  to  grow  it,  but  the  extravagantly 
hirsute  failed  materially  in  personal  popularity. 

The  punishment  for  horse-steahng,  once  established,  was 
promptly  and  arbitrarily  extended  to  include  the  taking 
of  cattle;  though  cattle  thieves  ordinarily  were  rather  leni- 
ently dealt  with,  and  when  raiding  for  political  reasons,  as 
in  Wyoming's  ''Rustler  War,''  were  condoned  by  the  pubUc. 

The  vigilance  committee  of  years  ago  was  no  hot-headed 
lynching  party  bound  to  claim  a  victim.  It  was  the  people 
acting  directly  instead  of  through  their  formally  elected 
or  appointed  representatives.  It  gave  due  process  of  law 
commensurate  with  frontier  conditions,  and  aimed  to  sup- 
port, not  to  subvert,  justice. 

That  soberness  of  thought  underlay  the  whole  matter 
appears  from  the  fact  that  the  vigilance  committees  ac- 
corded their  prisoners  actual,  if  informal,  trials,  often  ac- 
quitted, and,  when  convicting,  frequently  prescribed  as  the 
penalty  banishment  and  not  death.  Then,  too,  when  death 
was  prescribed,  the  committees,  with  respect  for  law's  long- 
established  usages,  subjected  the  prisoner  to  hanging  done 
with  orderHness  and  decency.  The  single  difference  between 
executions  by  one  of  these  popular  tribunals  and  those  by 
sheriffs  in  Eastern  States  was  the  Westerners'  enforced 
substitution  of  a  moving  horse,  box,  barrel,  or  wagon-tail 
in  place  of  the  sheriffs'  falling  drop. 

It  is  true  that  the  vigilance  conmaittee  sometimes  killed 
with  bullets,  but  it  was  only  when  the  accused,  resisting 
arrest,  "put  up  a  fight." 

The  committee  held  in  reserve  as  a  punishment  for  at- 
tacks upon  women  the  awesome  "staking  out"  upon  an 
ant-hill,  a  punishment  almost  never  called  into  play.  The 
few  cases  of  its  alleged  infliction  were  recorded  by  tradi- 
tion rather  than  by  history,  though  its  possibihty  of  inflic- 
tion was  a  forceful  affirmative  deterrent  to  the  evil-minded. 


EQUIPMENT  AND  FURNISHINGS  159 

Tradition  relates  that  on  rare  occasions  men  were  lynched 
because  they  erroneously  had  been  supposed  to  have  been 
the  perpetrators  of  a  particular  crime  with  which  in  fact 
they  had  had  no  connection,  but  tradition  adds  that  each 
such  victim  was  known  to  have  performed  at  least  one  other 
act  which  by  itself  would  have  warranted  the  rope.  Thus, 
while  there  may  have  occurred  an  error  in  judicial  process, 
there  had  been  none  in  moral  result,  even  though  some  low- 
browed individual  might  seem  merely  to  have  been  ^^hung 
on  his  merits. '^ 

The  vigilance  committee  never  advertised  what  it  had 
done,  or  where  or  how  'Hhe  event"  had  occurred,  and  ever 
sacredly  guarded  death-bed  confessions  of  guilt.  No  non- 
attendant  at  the  final  scene  would,  if  wise,  question  upon 
the  subject  any  man  who  had  been  present  there.  This 
meant  on  the  part  of  the  committee's  members  no  cowardly 
screening  of  themselves  from  the  officers  of  statutory  law. 
Merely,  the  West  considered  lynching,  however  necessary, 
to  be  a  nasty  job,  and  did  not  like  to  talk  about  it. 

However,  despite  the  ban  of  secrecy,  history  by  chance 
has  recorded  the  last  words  of  a  few  lynched  men.  Some  of 
these  ante-mortem  statements  were  picturesque  and  rather 
inducive  to  goose-flesh. 

Boone  Helm,  about  to  be  hung  at  Virginia  City,  Mon- 
tana, and  standing  beside  the  gallows  from  which  writhed 
the  body  of  one  of  Boone's  gang,  made  this  peroration: 
*^Kick  away,  old  fellow.  I'll  be  in  hell  with  you  in  a  minute. 
Every  man  for  his  principles.  Hurrah  for  Jeff  Davis.  Let 
her  rip."  At  another  time,  George  Shears  more  plaintively 
said:  ^'Gentlemen,  I  am  not  used  to  this  business,  never 
having  been  hung  before.  Shall  I  jump  off  or  slide 
off?" 

But  the  ^'strangulation  jig"  is  not  a  pleasant  subject. 
Let  us  once  more  rejoin  the  arriving  puncher. 

His  journey  had  represented  for  him  a  slow,  steady  grind 


160  THE  COWBOY 

of  several  days,  and  would  have  been  hopelessly  monoto- 
nous except  for  various  Httle  happenings,  for  the  bigness  of 
the  sweeping  views,  and  for  the  bubbling  joy  of  living  which 
nature  saw  fit  to  give  through  Western  air. 

Upon  the  trail  there  were  always  happening  httle  things 
which  gently  amused  the  plodding  traveller's  mind,  but  did 
not  rob  him  of  the  purring,  sensuous  pleasure  that  comes 
from  staying  half  asleep. 

The  marks  upon  the  trail  contained  mile  after  mile  a 
definite,  accurate  log  of  the  doings  by  every  recent  user 
of  the  way. 

On  either  hand  between  the  path's  edge  and  the  horizon 
was  space  where  from  time  to  time  occurred  something 
to  arrest  the  eye. 

A  hundred  yards  away,  two  sharply  pointed  ears  warily 
rose  above  a  bush.  Presently  under  them  appeared  the 
inquisitive,  impudent,  disreputable  face  of  a  coyote.  He 
gazed  inquiringly  a  moment,  and  then  commenced  a  retreat, 
at  first  made  with  studied  slowness  and  frequent  stops  for 
rearward  observation,  but  finally  changing  in  a  second  and 
after  a  derisive,  laughing  howl,  into  a  distance-consuming 
lope. 

A  mile  or  so  further  along  the  trail  and  squarely  in  it, 
a  flat-domed  disk  of  blotchy  brown  heaved,  ran  out  at  one 
side  into  a  waving  stream  that  led  at  once  into  a  coil.  Then 
came  a  shrill,  vibrant  whir.  Our  traveller's  horse,  with  a 
tiny  bit  of  fear,  with  unlimited  abhorrence,  and  with  a  pru- 
dently cocked  eye,  deflected  three  feet  or  so  to  the  side; 
and  having  gingerly  rounded  the  snake,  dropped  back  into 
the  trail  and  ambled  onward. 

Some  moments  later,  up  popped  a  jack-rabbit,  one  ear 
erect,  the  other  hanging  limply.  He  gave  a  preliminary 
hop  or  two,  a  shake  of  his  stubby  tail,  a  few,  bewildering, 
zigzag  jumps,  shot  forward,  and  was  gone. 

From  time  to  time,  antelope  rose  from  their  beds,  and 


EQUIPMENT  AND  FURNISHINGS  161 

like  undulating,  white-feathered  arrows  skimmed  over  the 
sage-brush. 

Small  isolated  lots  of  cattle  here  and  there  in  the  distance 
ate  their  way  along  in  restless  feeding,  or,  strung  out  behind 
a  leader,  were  travelling  at  interchanging  walk  and  trot 
from  the  spot  they  had  just  deserted  to  nowhere  in  par- 
ticular. 

Far  overhead  was  an  eagle  which,  for  many  minutes  and 
with  stiff -set,  wide-spread  wings,  had  been  cutting  circles  of 
a  mile's  diameter;  but  he  suddenly  dropped  Hke  a  stone 
to  within  two  fathoms  of  the  ground,  landed  fluttering  on 
the  plain,  melted  into  the  verdure,  and  passed  out  of  sight. 

All  the  way,  our  traveller's  pack-horse,  true  to  type,  had, 
when  not  towed  by  a  lead  rope,  been  seized  periodically 
by  violent  thirst  or  equally  insistent  hunger.  This  desire 
for  water  always  had  manifested  itself  when  the  trail  was 
far  above  the  stream,  while  all  desirable  food  had  seemed 
to  he  near  the  summits  of  steeply  sloping  hillsides.  Where- 
fore some  of  the  progress  of  our  cowboy  had  been  varied 
by  d6tours  and  showered  with  swear-words. 

He  will  swear  at  us  unless  we  quit  our  own  detours,  so 
let  us  from  now  on  stick  by  his  side. 

There  was  nothing  unusual  in  the  structures  of  the  ranch 
to  excite  his  curiosity:  merely  the  typical  layout,  namely 
a  main  building,  a  cowboys'  bunk  house,  a  barn  with  open 
shed  attached,  a  hitching-bar,  two  or  more  corrals,  and,  for 
purpose  of  obtaining  water,  whatever  appliances  local  con- 
ditions demanded. 

Had  not  surface  water  abounded  at  the  ranch,  there 
would  have  been  near  the  barn  a  windmill  on  tall  metal 
stilts,  and  adjacent  to  its  base  a  series  of  watering- troughs; 
or,  had  there  been  no  sufficient  water-supply,  either  sub- 
terranean or  on  the  surface,  there  would  have  appeared  a 
'Hank,"  a  hollow  in  the  ground  with  its  bottom  and  its 
sloping  sides  Uned  with  hard-packed  clay  and  designed  to 


162  THE  COWBOY 

collect  whatever  rain  might  fall.  In  quite  arid  countries, 
these  tanks  were  scattered  about  the  Range,  and  thus 
opened  to  the  live  stock  many  miles  of  otherwise  unusable 
grass-lands. 

But  in  fact  the  ranch  was  beside  a  creek.  While,  had 
the  latter's  banks  been  low,  there  would  have  been  a  con- 
venient water  system  consisting  of  a  series  of  ditches,  the 
banks  inconveniently  were  high.  Wherefore  there  was  a 
road  pitching  down  to  the  creek's  edge  and  used  by  a  horse- 
drawn  pair  of  wheels  bearing  a  trunnioned  barrel,  and  was 
also  a  ''go  devil,"  this  last  a  taut  wire  which  stretched  from 
the  bank's  top  to  an  anchorage  in  mid-stream  and  carried 
a  travelhng  bucket. 

The  corrals,  called  in  parts  of  Texas  ''round  pens,"  were 
all  circular  in  form  and  built  of  stout,  horizontal,  wooden 
rails  which  were  supported  by  posts  set  firmly  in  the  ground. 
The  corrals  were  circular,  that  there  might  be  no  comer 
into  which  a  pursued  animal  might  dodge,  or  into  which 
an  entering  herd  might  crowd  a  beast  to  its  physical  in- 
jury. Always  the  rails  were  lashed  to  the  posts  by  strips 
of  green  rawhide,  which  contracted  as  they  dried  and  made 
the  entire  structure  as  rigid  and  as  strong  as  though  it  were 
of  iron.  The  structure  had  to  be  unyielding,  for  it  received 
tremendous  shocks. 

Connecting  two  of  the  pens  was  very  likely  a  narrow 
fenced  lane,  which,  without  regard  to  orthography,  the  West 
termed  a  "shoot,"  and  which  was  used  in  the  branding  of 
the  maturer  cattle.  Fifteen  or  twenty  beasts  at  a  time 
would  be  crowded  into  it,  to  prevent  struggles  while  the 
branding-iron  was  doing  its  searing  work. 

The  West  ran  true  to  form  when  it  changed  "chute"  to 
"shoot,"  for  previously  its  Riviere  Purgatoire  had  been 
mispronounced  into  Picketwire  River. 

The  barn  held  the  oats  and  baled  hay  which,  bought  at 
considerable  expense  and  hauled  from  the  railroad,  were 


EQUIPMENT  AND  FURNISHINGS  163 

to  supplement  bunch-grass  or  buflfalo-grass  as  food  for  such 
horses  as  drew  the  wagons.  They  were  called  ''work 
horses/'  They  needed  strong  diet  and  to  be  sure  of  not 
missing  meals. 

The  operation  of  placing  harness  upon  a  horse  as  well 
as  that  of  attaching  the  beast  to  a  wagon  was  styled  ''hook- 
ing up."  The  verb  "harness"  was  rarely  used  in  the  Cattle 
Country. 

The  barn  possibly  contained  also  stalls  for  sheltering, 
during  hard  winter  storms,  the  little  group  of  "kept-up" 
saddle-ponies.  In  the  better  weather,  however  cold,  such 
live  storage  was  effected  in  the  corral.  Always  a  few  horses 
were  thus  "kept  up"  near  the  ranch-house  in  order  that, 
under  any  circumstances  and  at  any  instant,  a  saddled 
animal  surely  could  be  obtained.  Not  uncommonly  they 
were  termed  "night  horses." 

Save  for  the  hitching-bar,  the  corrals,  and  the  "shoot," 
there  was  no  fencing,  for  there  was  no  field  of  grain  or  hay, 
no  patch  of  vegetables,  no  garden  of  flowers. 

Range  animals  were  required  to  procure  their  own  food; 
and  this  they  found  in  the  wonderfully  nutritious  if  ap- 
parently wilted  grasses  that,  in  Uttle,  widely  separated  tufts, 
were  scattered  over  the  plains,  and,  according  to  their  several 
varieties,  went  by  the  respective  names  of  "bunch-grass," 
"grama,"  or  "gramma,"  "grass,"  and  "buffalo"  or  "mes- 
quite"  "grass."  Of  all  the  grasses,  it  was  only  these  so 
sun-dried  as  to  be  half  hay  that  were  of  interest  to  the  live 
stock.  Occasional  beds  of  vivid  green  might  to  human  eyes 
appear  to  offer  a  luscious  meal,  but  the  beasts  knew  that 
they  either  harbored  viciously  stinging  flies  or  would  yield 
merely  unappetizing  reeds. 

Not  until  the  later  days  of  the  ranching  industry  and 
then  only  upon  the  smaller  establishments,  was  any  at- 
tempt made  to  grow  food  for  the  animals.  This  effort  was 
limited  to  the  raising  of  a  small  lot  of  hay  or  alfalfa,  which 


164  THE  COWBOY 

in  severe  winter  weather  was  dispensed  to  the  weaker  cows 
which  had  been  '^ brought  up"  for  feeding  purposes  to  the 
vicinity  of  the  supply. 

Except  on  httle  estabUshments  near  the  towns,  no  vege- 
tables were  grown.  Such  '^ greens"  as  the  country  at  large 
ate  ^'grew  in  cans,"  as  did  also  all  the  milk  and  cream.  He 
who  would  have  attempted  to  milk  a  Range  cow  would 
have  dared  pluck  lightning  from  the  skies. 

Eggs,  too,  were  imported,  for  hens  were  absent  from  the 
Range  almost  as  completely  as  were  cathedrals.  The  im- 
ported eggs,  coming  as  they  did  from  commercial  raisers 
in  the  East,  were  termed  '^ States'  eggs,"  while  the  output 
of  the  few  hens  that  pecked  about  the  ''cow  towns,"  vir- 
tually the  only  hens  within  the  Cattle  Country,  were  known 
merely  as  ''eggs."  These  latter  objects,  whether  because 
lacking  the  glamour  of  importation  or  because  of  the  usually 
bedraggled  appearance  of  their  parents,  if  parents  be  the 
correct  word,  were  not  regarded  as  highly  as  were  the  crated 
"States'  eggs."  Eggs  were  the  only  subject  in  which  the 
West  conceded  that  the  East  was  its  superior.  The  West, 
dazzled  by  the  Eastern  quantity  and  thus  bHnded  to  the 
West's  greater  freshness,  agreed  with  Sad  Hooper's  dictum 
at  Laramie:  "I  dunno  why  it  is,  but  them  Eastern  men 
lays  eggs  better  en  we  do." 

Even  near  the  settlements,  gardens  were  rare  and  be- 
tokened the  presence  or  inmiinence  of  womenfolk.  When 
an  unmarried  man,  a  "batch"  or  "bach,"  planted  a  few 
irregular  rows  of  onions,  it  plainly  evidenced  that  Cupid 
had  been  in  action. 

Flowers  were  restricted  to  the  bloom  of  the  wild  seedlings 
scattered  on  the  roofs  of  the  ranch  buildings  and  amid  the 
sage-brush,  and  to  the  geraniums,  begonias,  and  fuchsias 
that  in  such  houses  as  sheltered  women  rose  from  tin  re- 
ceptacles which  in  early  hfe  had  been  tomato  cans. 

There  appeared  no  wagon  ruts,  because  the  vehicles  went 


EQUIPMENT  AND  FURNISHINGS  165 

forth  but  thrice  annually,  to  the  round-ups  of  spring  and 
fall,  these  up  the  Range,  and  once  in  the  autumn  to  town 
for  a  year's  supply  of  food. 

Our  friend,  having  rid  himself  of  his  horses,  turned  to- 
ward the  main  building  or  ^^ shack,"  the  ^^ranch-house," 
and  joined  the  group  which  was  waiting  for  cookie  to  blow 
upon  his  horn  or  more  aristocratic  conch  shell,  and  there- 
after announce  either  ^^Grub  pi-i-ile"  or  ^'Come  and  get 
it." 

The  ranch  at  which  our  friend  arrived  was  one  of  size 
suJSicient  to  employ  numerous  men.  There  was  the  fore- 
man, who  sometimes  was  referred  to  as  the  ^'cock-a-doodle- 
do,"  the  cook  who,  if,  as  commonly,  white,  was  to  his  face 
called  '' cookie"  and  behind  his  back  was  spoken  of  as  the 
^^old  woman"  or  ''old  lady."  But  if,  as  in  rare  instances, 
the  cook  were  a  Chinaman,  these  entitlements  of  cookie 
and  old  lady  severally  were  supplanted  by  ''John"  and 
"that  damned  chink." 

As  further  employees,  there  were  several  riders  and  also 
two  or  three  ex-punchers,  who,  efficient  in  their  halcyon 
days  and  later  victims  of  physical  injury,  were  virtually 
as  pensioners  now  on  both  the  constant  pay-roll  for  wages 
and  the  somewhat  intermittent  record  for  work.  These 
pensioners  "helped  up,"  and  thus  did  all  the  odd  jobs  upon 
which  the  cook  and  cowboys  welched — teaming,  cutting 
wood,  drawing  water,  "wrangUng"  the  saddle-horses,  and 
making  repairs  to  buildings,  harnesses,  and  wagons. 

Thus  there  were  on  the  scene  at  least  ten  or  twelve  men 
all  ready,  able,  and  willing  to  argue. 

Possibly  there  was  an  additional  man  in  the  form  of  a 
passer-by  who  had  imposed  himself  upon  the  hospitality 
of  the  ranch.  Every  traveller  had  vested  right  to  enter 
any  ranch-house  at  any  hour  of  the  day  or  night  on  any 
day  of  the  year,  whether  the  regular  inmates  were  present 
or  absent,  and  to  expect  food  and  shelter  for  so  long  as  both 


166  THE  COWBOY 

his  necessities  demanded  and  he  did  not  abuse  his  privi- 
lege. 

There  was  not  a  lock  on  any  door  in  the  Cattle  Country. 

Such  a  visitor,  if  forced  by  his  own  necessities  to  travel 
on,  and  if  in  actual  distress,  might,  in  the  inmates'  absence, 
help  himself  to  food  requisite  for  the  journey  to  his  next 
prospective  shelter  and  leave  a  written  memorandum  in 
which  he  stated  his  name  and  what  and  why  he  had  taken. 
This  writing,  though  strictly  demanded  by  the  Western 
code,  was  not  exacted  with  any  idea  of  assuring  a  refund  to 
the  particular  ranchers  who  unwittingly  had  furnished  the 
suppUes;  it  was  to  impress  upon  the  pubhc  that  it  should 
borrow  only  what  it  needed,  and  that,  whenever  once  more 
affluent,  it  should  repay,  not  to  the  original  lenders,  if  at 
all  inconvenient  so  to  do,  but  to  some  unfortunate  vagrant 
who  was  in  the  same  predicament  the  visitor  once  had  been. 
The  West,  thus  generous  to  the  needy,  was  severe  to  the 
wanton  thief  who  selfishly  robbed  the  larder.  He  faced 
the  possibility  of  a  pistol-shot,  or  else  of  a  hempen  noose 
with  the  two  folds  and  thirteen  wraps  which  formed  the 
hondo  everywhere  restricted  to  the  hangman's  use. 

No  pay  was  expected  from  any  guest  or  borrower.  For 
one  of  them  to  offer  it  was  very  close  to  an  insult. 

But,  though  every  passer-by  had  vested  right  to  enter 
the  house,  it  was  his  bounden  duty  first  to  ascertain  whether 
any  of  the  inmates  were  at  home,  and,  if  so,  to  await  their 
welcome  before  attempting  to  pass  through  the  door.  Were 
the  visitor  mounted  and  a  follower  of  convention,  he  would 
remain  ahorse  until  requested  to  dismount.  In  Texas,  it 
was  dangerous  presumption  for  him  to  leave  the  saddle, 
did  the  house  have  inmates  present,  until  some  one  of  them 
had  said  ''Light''  (alight),  ''Stranger,  fight."  In  the  North- 
west, it  was  extremely  discourteous  to  quit  one's  mount 
before  receiving  an  invitation  such  as  "Climb  down  and 
eat  a  bean  with  us,"  or  "Fall  off  and  stay  a  while." 


EQUIPMENT  AND  FURNISHINGS  167 

Convention  intended  to  give  the  host  an  opportunity  to 
inspect  his  prospective  guest  and  to  decide  whether  the 
latter  were  a  peaceful  citizen  or  needed  watching.  Despite 
the  novelists'  statement  to  the  contrary,  violators  of  cus- 
toms like  these  were  rarely  shot,  but  they  did  create  dis- 
trust, and  distrust  was  always  more  or  less  dangerous  in  a 
country  where  each  person  was  largely  dependent  upon 
himself  for  defense  against  criminals. 

The  principle  of  open  house  made  many  a  strange  com- 
bination of  persons,  for  the  horse  thief,  the  gambler,  the 
murderer  had  as  good  a  claim  to  hospitality  as  had  the 
owner's  friends,  the  passing  ranchmen,  the  guests  from  Eng- 
land or  the  East,  the  *' Bishops  and  other  Clergy." 

The  men  awaiting  cookie's  summons  devoted  themselves 
to  conversation,  including  perhaps  a  resumption  of  the 
picketing  argument  at  the  point  where  weeks  before  it  had 
been  discontinued  when  the  homefolk  were  down  country 
at  the  newcomer's  former  ranch.  For  a  while  the  conversa- 
tion held  the  debating  group  balanced  on  its  toes  and  sitting 
on  its  spurs,  a  squatting  posture  which  the  cowpuncher 
habitually  affected  and  which  he  alone  could  find  comfort- 
able. About  the  time  that  all  blades  of  grass  within  con- 
venient reach  had  one  by  one  been  plucked,  thoughtfully 
chewed  and  spat  out,  some  one  announced  that  there  was 
an  animal  in  a  corral.  Thereupon  all  adjourned  to  the  cor- 
ral's top  rail,  ten  feet  above  the  ground,  and  gazed  in- 
terestedly at  some  commonplace  old  horse  or  cow  which 
for  years  had  been  a  familiar  object.  Under  circumstances 
like  those  described,  time  and  little  way  to  spend  it,  any 
beast  in  a  corral  offered  to  the  rail-birds  possibilities  as  great 
as  does  the  bottom  of  any  hole  to  every  passer-by. 

That  top  rail  was  the  point  from  which  gratuitous  and 
unwelcome  advice  was  hurled  at  round-up  time  to  the  cow- 
boys toiling  and  sweating  amid  the  milling  animals  within 
the  corral.    In  some  localities  it  bore  the  name  of  ''opera- 


168  THE  COWBOY 

house."  The  untidied  ground  under  the  bottom  rail  was  a 
favorite  resort  for  rattlesnakes. 

Pending  cookie^s  summons,  there  was  time  also  to  in- 
spect the  local  pets,  a  bear  cub  waddling  about  whither  it 
would,  a  ^'bear-dog,"  a  cat,  and  perhaps  a  cougar  in  a  cage, 
an  elk,  antelope,  or  mountain-sheep  within  a  special  corral, 
these  inmates  of  the  cage  and  corral  sooner  or  later  to  be 
intentionally  released. 

In  a  country  where  man  laid  in  a  yearns  food-supply  in 
advance,  and  had  wood-mice  and  pack-rats  as  neighbors, 
pussy  became  almost  a  personage.  It  was  no  rare  thing 
to  see  a  man  riding  across-country  and  solemnly  holding 
on  his  saddle  horn  a  cat  bound  ranchward  to  guard  filled 
flour  sacks. 

A  curious  phase  of  this  feline  situation  during  the  decade 
of  the  eighties  was  the  fixedness  of  pussy's  money  value. 
This  always  was  ten  dollars.  Whoever  wished  to  buy  a 
mouser  never  bid  a  lower  price.  Whoever  had  a  cat  for 
sale  never  named  a  higher  value.  Of  course,  the  vagaries 
of  birth  easily  might  overstock  a  ranch,  and  one  large  fitter 
could  glut  the  market  of  an  entire  Range.  Nevertheless, 
no  threatened  shortage  of  supply,  no  undue  excess  in  reserves 
made  any  difference.  The  catless  man  had  to  pay  ten  dol- 
lars in  order  to  change  his  state. 

As  for  the  other  pets,  ranchmen,  from  their  virile  life, 
fiked  virile  playthings.  This  quality,  as  exhibited  in  an- 
other phase,  particularly  among  the  cowboys,  found  vent 
in  the  playtime  harnessing  together  of  two  entirely  unbroken 
animals,  either  two  broncos,  or  two  renegade  steers,  or  a 
bronco  and  a  maddened  cow,  fastening  the  insane  team  to 
a  wagon  and  climbing  aboard  it. 

John  H.  Dewing,  now  of  Livingston,  Montana,  and  a 
nephew  of  the  James  Dewing  already  mentioned,  may  still 
remember  the  fifty-five-mile  drive  that,  some  thirty  years 
ago,  he  and  another  man  took  from  Gardiner  into  Living- 


EQUIPMENT  AND  FURNISHINGS  169 

ston.  Of  their  two  horses,  neither  had  ever  before  been  in 
harness;  and  one  of  them,  Slim  Jim,  had  'Hwo  notches  in 
his  tail,"  having  on  two  occasions  when  under  saddle  killed 
his  rider.  But,  as  Dewing  said:  ''Both  the  brutes  will  be 
quick  learners. '^  All  that  saved  the  expedition  was  that 
Slim  Jim,  with  his  sixteen  hands  of  height,  had  in  his  short- 
legged  team-mate  a  pony  that,  despite  its  otherwise  com- 
plete indecency,  retained  the  instincts  of  its  roping  days, 
and  would,  in  answer  to  wild  waves  from  the  driver's  seat, 
squat  on  its  haunches.  This  would  throw  Slim  Jim  off  his 
feet,  whereupon  the  pony,  on  its  own  account,  would  twist 
about  and  kick  the  prostrate  Jim  into  once  more  standing 
up,  and  also  kick  him  out  of  desire  for  the  moment  to  run 
away.  Late  in  the  afternoon  of  the  second  day,  the  expedi- 
tion reached  the  front  of  Livingston's  Albemarle  Hotel, 
to  be  accosted  by  a  livery-stable's  runner  with  the  question: 
''Howdy,  Gents;  shall  I  put  your  bosses  in  the  stable  over- 
night?" Dewing  said:  "No,  stick  the  hyenas  in  the  county 
jail  for  six  months." 

Our  cowboy  friend  and  his  associates  before  the  ranch- 
house  presently  heard  cookie's  summons.  The  men  trooped 
into  the  building  to  receive  cookie's  final  and  conventional 
order:  "Fly  at  it." 

At  the  great  majority  of  ranches,  owners  and  employees 
ate  at  the  same  table,  and  in  seating  themselves  made  no 
distinction  between  wage-earner  and  wage-payer  beyond 
that  the  seat  at  the  table's  head  commonly  and  by  tacit 
consent  was  ceded  to  whichever  of  the  owners  was  regarded 
as  the  leader  among  themselves.  A  few  establishments, 
particularly  those  of  English  cult,  set  a  separate  table  for 
employees,  and  so  created  some  little  resentment  in  a  region 
where  democracy  was  very  potent. 

Meals  usually  were  of  short  duration,  for  the  Westerner 
made  no  formality  of  his  eating,  and  but  little  interrupted 
it  with  conversation.    In  addition,  the  cook  was  impatient 


170  THE  COWBOY 

to  begin  the  dish-washing;  and,  privileged  by  his  position 
to  speak  his  mind,  he  customarily  exhorted  dawdlers  to 
'* swallow  and  git  out."  Meals  ordinarily  were  promptly 
attended,  as  tardy  inmates  of  most  of  the  ranches  received 
from  the  cook  only  a  grin,  an  airy  pointing  at  the  bean-pot, 
and  the  words:  ''Beans,  help  yourselves." 

The  meal  over,  a  return  to  work,  if  it  were  midday;  or, 
if  it  were  evening,  more  conversation;  or  else  either  an  in- 
cursion into  the  ranch  Ubrary  or  singing. 

The  orthodox  ranch  hbrary  was  composed  of  a  patent- 
medicine  almanac,  a  well-thumbed  catalogue  of  a  mail- 
order house,  several  catalogues  of  saddle  makers,  and,  finally, 
fragments  of  newspapers  from  widely  scattered  localities 
and  of  vintage  dates.  That  mail-order  house^s  book  with 
its  innumerable  illustrations  was  as  fascinating  as  every- 
where used  to  be  the  final,  pictured  pages  in  the  early  Amer- 
ican dictionaries. 

The  absolute  dependence  of  much  of  the  Cattle  Country 
upon  the  mail-order  system  was  confessed  in  the  remarks 
which  accompanied  almost  every  announcement  of  the 
marriage  of  an  acquaintance,  remarks  such  as:  ''Say,  boys, 
Bill  Smith  that  used  to  be  down  at  the  Two  Star  Ranch 
has  roped  a  heifer  for  fife.  He  corralled  her  back  East  in 
Omaha.  Don't  know  her  name.  Don't  know  nothing  about 
her.    Bill  must  a  got  her  from  Montgomery  Ward." 

With  no  intended  reflection  upon  the  great  commercial 
house  which,  by  the  manner  of  its  sales  and  the  excellence 
of  its  wares,  did  much  to  make  the  West  a  habitable  place, 
the  entire  Range  dubbed  any  homely  female  a  "Mont- 
gomery Ward  woman  sent  West  on  approval." 

Nor  should  the  patent-medicine  almanac  be  belittled.  It 
contained  the  signs  of  the  zodiac,  a  fruitful  field  for  dis- 
cussion as  to  their  meanings  and  "the  use  of  the  durned 
things  anyhow."  It  contained  also  other  matter  which, 
while  of  no  use  to  the  ranchmen,  was  vital  to  the  Western 


EQUIPMENT  AND  FURNISHINGS  171 

army  posts;  this  was  a  schedule  showing  for  each  day  in 
the  year  the  times  of  sunrise  and  sunset  at  various  places 
in  the  United  States.  MiUtary  regulations  required  at 
each  army  post  a  cannon-shot  at  both  reveille  and  retreat. 
The  practical,  Indian  fighting  captain  in  command  of  a 
one  or  two  company  post  did  not  bother  with  voluminous, 
laboriously  prepared,  governmentally  issued  tables  of  sun- 
rise and  sunset  times;  but,  referring  to  the  Uttle  green- 
covered  almanac,  picked  out  in  the  schedule  the  name  of 
the  town  nearest  his  post,  calculated  the  difference  in  time 
between  the  two  places,  deUvered  the  almanac  and  the 
calculation's  result  to  the  sergeant  of  the  guard,  and  from 
then  onward  the  gun  boomed  according  to  '^Hostetter's 
Bitters, '^  as  amended  for  difference  in  longitude. 

At  this  particular  ranch,  because  its  owners  were  college- 
bred,  were  additional  books,  novels  of  the  day  and  a  bat- 
tered set  of  Shakespeare.  Only  the  owners  and  visiting 
womenfolk  found  anything  of  interest  in  the  novels;  but, 
to  the  shame  of  owners  and  guests,  cowboys  alone  attacked 
the  Shakespeare.  True,  not  even  half  of  them  did  so.  True, 
none  of  them  made  more  than  occasional  and  limited  in- 
cursions, but  these  Hterary  expeditions  were  apt  every 
month  or  so  to  be  repeated  to  the  extent  of  '' taking  a  whirl 
out  of"  one  of  the  more  dramatic  episodes  in  an  historical 
or  tragic  play,  and  later  to  cause  the  reader,  with  no  small 
enthusiasm  and  in  complete  oblivion  as  to  the  murderous 
effect  of  slangy  paraphrase,  to  attempt  transmitting  to 
some  less-read  companion  the  great  author's  message.  The 
vast  intellectual  vitality  that  came  out  of  Avon  arrested 
attention.  It  wrung  from  a  top  rider,  first  face  to  face  with 
the  play  of  Julius  Caesar  and  its  ''Dogs  of  war":  ''Gosh! 
That  fellow  Shakespeare  could  sure  spill  the  real  stuff.  He's 
the  only  poet  I  ever  seen  what  was  fed  on  raw  meat." 

As  for  singing,  the  cowboy  was  fond  of  music  or  rather 
of  that  kind  of  humanly  created  noise  which  on  the  Range 


172  THE  COWBOY 

arbitrarily  represented  melody.  Musical  gatherings,  so- 
called  ''sings,"  were  very  popular.  Except  for  banjos,  ex- 
cept for  infirm  violins,  each  of  these  instruments  with 
usually  an  illicit  number  of  surviving  strings,  except  for 
mouth-organs,  jews'-harps,  and  an  occasional  accordion, 
there  was  Uttle  besides  the  human  voice  to  awake  dulcet 
sounds. 

In  this  singing,  nasal  tones  predominated,  and  the  songs 
were  rendered  usually  with  very  considerable  seriousness 
both  of  sound  and  of  facial  expression.  Variations  in  high 
notes  were  affectionately  regarded,  and  notes  long  drawn 
out  were  deeply  loved. 

The  fav^orite  songs  had  nimaerous  stanzas,  and  in  lugubri- 
ous terms  referred  to  home  or  dying  mothers.  Wording 
might  vary  with  geography,  but  loneliness  rarely  failed  to 
be  a  theme.  ''The  home  I  ne'er  will  live  to  see''  and  "I'm 
a  poor,  lonesome  cowboy"  vied  in  popularity  with  other 
dirges  such  as  "The  night  my  mother  passed  away."  It 
required  some  ten  minutes  for  that  classic,  "The  Dying 
Cowboy,"  to  recite  his  pathetic  history  and  arrive  at  the 
point  where,  with  every  note  held  so  long  as  breath  en- 
dured, he,  according  to  Northwesterners,  "laid  himself 
down  beside  the  trail  and  died,"  or,  in  the  Texan  version, 
appealed:  "Oh,  bury  me  not  on  the  lone  prai-rie." 

At  times  mournfulness  was  laid  aside,  and  great  pleasure 
was  derived  from  ditties  of  the  class  to  which  belonged  "I've 
found  a  horseshoe.    It  is  rusty  and  full  of  nails." 

Again  sentimentality  would  prevail,  and  there  would  be 
catarrhally  produced  "Rosalie  the  Prairie  Flower"  in  its 
entirety,  or  so  much  of  "Annie  Laurie"  and  of  its  kindred 
ballads  as  the  choristers  could  remember. 

Among  the  few  cheerful  bits  of  music  were  "Roll  on, 
roll  on,  roll  on.  Little  Dogies,  roll  on,  roll  on,"  the  rollick- 
ing lay  of  the  cattle,  "Roll  your  tail,  and  roll  her  high;  we'll 
all  be  angels  by  and  by,"  and  that  semichant,  "The  Uttle, 
old,  gray  horse  came  tearing  out  of  the  wilderness." 


EQUIPMENT  AND  FURNISHINGS  173 

In  this  last-mentioned  song,  the  animal  never  arrived  at 
his  destination,  for,  whenever  the  choristers  thus  brought 
him  to  the  edge  of  the  wilderness,  a  long-drawn,  unctuous 
''and"  whirled  the  singers  back  to  the  song's  initial  word, 
and  automatically  replaced  the  little,  old,  gray  horse  at 
his  original  starting-point,  whence  presently,  repeatedly, 
but  unavailingly  he  came  tearing  out  until  Euterpe  quit  for 
the  night. 

She  retired  soon;  for  so  hard  was  the  day's  work,  and 
so  early  in  the  morning  did  it  commence,  that  ranch  eve- 
nings were  very  short.  Bedtime  followed  closely  on  the 
heels  of  supper. 

There  was  small  incentive  to  combat  drowsiness,  for 
there  was  scant  light  in  which  to  stay  awake.  Kerosene 
marked  the  attainable  limit  of  illumination,  and  ill-kept 
lamps  withindoors  and  smoky  lanterns  withoutdoors  created 
little  that  suggested  brilliancy.  For  these  means  of  Hghting, 
candles,  and  even  torches  of  fat  pine,  were  substituted  in 
simple  establishments  far  from  the  railway.  The  inhabitants 
of  such  primitive  places  ordinarily  retired  before  darkness 
set  in. 


CHAPTER  IX 
DIVERSIONS  AND  RECREATIONS 

FURTHER  DIVERSIONS— TARANTULA  DUELS — RATTLESNAKES  KILLED  BY 
KING-SNAKES — ANTELOPE,  ETC. — REPTILES  IN  BEDDING — LITTLE  DANGER 
FROM  SNAKES — SECTIONAL  CUSTOMS — HARMLESSNE8S  OP  WILD  ANIMALS — 
DUELS  BETWEEN  VARIOUS  BEASTS — WOLVES  AND  BEARS — HORSE-RACES — 
INDIAN  ENTRANTS — FOOT-RACES — OTHER  RECREATIONS — COURSING — HAZ- 
ING TENDERFOOTS — CARD-PLAYING — ^DRINKING  AND  EXTENT  OP  DRUNKEN- 
NESS— ^DANCING — PAUCITY  OP  RECREATIONS 

Music  was  not  the  only  recreation. 

Not  infrequent  diversions  in  such  sections  of  the  coun- 
try as  offered  the  raw  materials  were  mortal  combats  fought 
by  two  or  more  tarantulas,  or  waged  between  a  king-snake 
and  a  rattler. 

The  first  was  the  more  sporting  proposition,  as  any  con- 
testant might  win.  Each  of  the  huge,  repulsive  spiders 
which  hopped  about  the  bottom  of  a  cracked  soup-tureen, 
carefully  preserved  for  arena  purposes,  had  financial  backers 
amid  the  owners  of  the  overhanging  human  faces.  Occa- 
sionally a  hairy  gladiator  ceased  its  cheery  occupation  of 
amputating  its  opponent's  legs,  jumped  from  the  pit  in 
which  it  belonged,  and  bit  a  spectator. 

Each  enterer  of  one  of  the  horrid  bugs  endeavored  that 
it  should  be  a  female,  and  not  from  the  same  colony  as  that 
of  any  of  the  other  belHgerents.  Males  would  not  bite  fe- 
males or  relatives;  but  the  females,  while  sometimes  spar- 
ing loved  relations,  had  no  pity  for  the  males  as  such. 

The  conduct  and  result  of  the  other  duel  was  fore- 
ordained, a  terrified  rattlesnake  making  successive  efforts 
to  crawl  to  safety  and  each  time  headed  off  by  a  moving 
streak  upon  the  floor,  a  coil,  a  rattle,  spiral  progress  which 

174 


DIVERSIONS  AND  RECREATIONS  175 

made  around  the  coil  was  seemingly  lazy  but  was  assuredly 
provocative  of  hate,  another  rattle,  an  angry,  aimless  strike, 
a  flash  through  the  air,  a  blur,  teeth  sunk  in  just  below  the 
rattler^s  open  jaw,  a  vine-like  embrace,  a  badly  squeezed 
rattlesnake  dead  from  a  broken  neck,  and  an  immediate 
gliding  away  by  a  slender,  graceful  whip-lash,  by  three  feet 
of  lithest  sinuosity  particolored  with  black  and  brilliant 
yellow  or  orange,  radiantly  ghstening  as  with  a  fresh  coat 
of  varnish. 

King-snakes,  which  were  entirely  harmless  to  man,  com- 
monly were  intentionally  imprisoned  by  him  in  houses 
located  in  rattler-infested  locaHties,  and  were  permitted  to 
go  whither  they  wished  withindoors.  Otherwise  there 
always  would  be  the  chance  of  a  cucumber-hke  odor  and 
of  a  sharp,  whirring  sound  beside  the  fireplace  or  in  some 
dark  corner.  The  king-snake  would  not  eat  his  victim, 
but  would  kill  it  at  sight. 

To  procure  with  certainty  such  a  snake  fight  within  one's 
cabin,  all  one  had  to  do  was  to  go  out  of  doors,  capture 
the  nearest  rattler  by  aid  of  a  forked  stick  or  an  open  gunny- 
sack,  and  throw  him  through  the  cabin  door  and  onto  the 
floor.    The  king-snake  would  do  the  rest. 

Occasionally  one  saw  such  a  combat  self-arranged  and 
on  the  open  prairie. 

In  Texas  a  black  snake  would  be  substituted  for  our 
friend  the  king-snake,  but  the  result  of  the  duel  would  be 
the  same. 

On  the  range  one  might  see  a  rattlesnake  being  done  to 
death  in  either  of  two  other  and  equally  dramatic  ways. 
A  snake  would  sound  its  rattle,  and  anywhere  the  antelope 
or  deer,  or  in  the  Far  Southwest  the  chaparral-cock  some- 
times would  heed  the  call. 

A  female  antelope  and  her  tiny  fawn  were  quietly  nosing 
their  way  through  the  scattered  bunch-grass.  The  mother's 
head  shot  up  and  twisted  to  one  side.    She  was  both  lis- 


.0 


176  THE  COWBOY 

tening  and  scenting  to  the  limit  of  her  tense  ability.  Sud- 
denly she  started,  ran,  say,  a  hundred  yards,  jumped  six 
feet  into  the  air,  and,  with  four  hoofs  held  close  together, 
landed  upon  the  rattler.  Up  and  down  she  bucked  with 
rapidity  suggesting  an  electric  vibrator,  with  all  the  effect 
of  the  sharpest  knife.  Her  httle  feet  had  cruel  edges.  A 
moment  later  she  trotted  quietly  back  to  her  baby,  and 
left  behind  her  reptiUan  hash. 
^fjit^^  Or  the  cha^a^ral^cockjnight  stop  its  hunt  for  bugs,  seize 
^  in  its  bill  a  group  of  cactus  thorns,  spread  its  wings  wide 
and  low,  and,  running  more  speedily  than  could  any  race- 
horse, dodging  as  elusively  as  does  heat-Hghtning,  drive 
those  thorns  squarely  into  the  snake's  open  mouth,  peck 
out  both  the  beady  eyes,  and  then  resume  the  hunt  for  bugs. 

At  the  extreme  southerly  portion  of  the  Range  the  rattler 
had  another  enemy,  the  peccary.  Nevertheless,  watching 
a  pig  step  on  a  snake,  bite  into  it,  pull  it  apart,  and  then 
eat  it  did  not  stir  one's  imagination. 

The  rattlesnakes,  though  considered,  except  for  certain 
ones  in  Texas,  to  be  much  overadvertised  as  to  dangerous- 
ness  and  to  be  trading  on  the  well-deserved  reputation  of 
their  Floridan  brothers,  nevertheless  were  regarded  as  being 
distinctly  unpleasant.  Yet  nobody  ordinarily  paid  much 
attention  to  them  or  had  their  subject  in  mind  unless  they 
were  in  one's  path  or  in  or  near  one's  house,  or  unless  a  man 
were  about  to  sit  on  the  ground  or  to  sleep  upon  it. 

The  average  inhabitant  of  the  Cattle  Country  acquired 
a  habit  of  circumspection  before  taking  a  seat.  This  desire 
for  a  quick,  snappy  view  became  almost  an  instinct. 
Colonel  Pickett  said:  ^^You  tell  a  good  horse  by  his  con- 
figuration, manners,  and  action.  You  tell  a  Westerner  by 
the  way  he  sits  down." 

When  a  man  was  about  to  sleep  on  the  ground,  hard 
pounding  was  done  upon  the  earth  to  scare  up  from  their 
holes  any  lurking  reptiles.    Similar  exploratory  precaution 


DIVERSIONS  AND  RECREATIONS  177 

was  taken  against  scorpions,  centipedes,  and  tarantulas 
within  their  domain. 

Not  infrequently,  despite  such  a  preliminary  search  and 
despite  the  cocoon-Kke  way  in  which  every  sleeping  Wes- 
terner tightly  roUed  his  blankets  about  him,  a  man  on  wak- 
ing in  the  morning  would  find  that  his  bed  had  gathered  in 
various  nocturnal  wanderers,  assorted  according  to  the 
latitude,  a  rattlesnake  or  two  or  perhaps  only  a  single  taran- 
tula, scorpion,  centipede,  horned  toad,  small  lizard,  or  dis- 
gusting Gila  monster. 

There  was  little  actual  hazard  in  conducting  such  a  lodg- 
ing-house; because  its  human  proprietor  always  quit  it 
before  the  sim  had  warmed  the  guests  into  activity,  and 
quit  it  in  a  manner  which,  keeping  the  blankets  still  atop 
the  lodgers,  deterred  them  from  moving  to  attack. 

Safety  required  that  this  exit  be  not  made  in  any  violent 
manner,  but  rather  be  circumspectly  accomplished  by  gently 
uncovering  the  shoulders,  by  strategically  anchoring  the 
hands  into  the  ground  behind  the  head,  and  by  their  rapidly 
pulling  out  the  body,  which  was  kept  as  stiU  as  though  it 
were  paralyzed  from  the  waist  down.  Once  freed  from  the 
bed,  its  real  owner  always  curiously  investigated,  to  see  what 
prizes,  if  any,  he  had  drawn. 

There  was  very  little  risk  of  being  bitten  by  any  of  these 
unpleasant  creatures  at  any  time.  Seemingly  they  had  no 
desire  to  attack  a  man  who  was  sleeping  or  otherwise  qui- 
escent, and,  save  in  infrequent  instances,  they  fled  from 
any  one  who  moved. 

The  only  type  of  rattlesnake  upon  the  major  portion  of 
the  Range  either  stayed  on  the  ground  or  climbed  no  higher 
than  the  bottom  branches  of  low  bushes,  almost  invariably 
coiled  and  rattled  before  it  struck,  was,  when  striking,  rarely 
disposed  to  lunge  a  distance  exceeding  one-third  of  the  rep- 
tile's length,  very  rarely  was  able  to  lunge  further  than  one- 
half  of  its  length,  and  never  more  than  two-thirds  of  it. 


178  THE  COWBOY 

As  this  rattlesnake^ s  length  but  seldom  exceeded  three  feet 
and  almost  never  four  feet,  the  striking  radius  was  com- 
paratively short. 

Moreover,  the  snake  was  easily  killed.  While  a  pistol- 
shot  or  a  '^ mashing  with  a  rock"  were  thoroughly  effec- 
tive, there  were  other  no  less  definitive  methods.  A  sUght 
blow  from  a  quirt  or  switch  insured  a  fatal  break  in  the 
spine,  a  result  obtained  for  the  neck  by  many  a  cowboy 
through  his  seizing  the  tail  of  a  gUding  serpent  and  snapping 
the  brute  like  a  whip.  A  coiled  rattler  patently  could  not 
at  the  moment  be  accorded  this  latter  debonair  treatment, 
so  either  he  was  kicked  out  of  his  coil  and  then  seized  and 
snapped,  or,  having  been  allowed  to  strike  the  sole  of  a  boot, 
his  head,  before  it  could  be  retracted,  was  prosaically 
stepped  on. 

Although  the  Western  rattlesnake  was  known  to  be  death- 
dealing  in  only  rare  instances,  its  bite  ordinarily  provoked 
heroic  remedy.  The  historic  antidote  of  whiskey  was  rarely 
available,  and  also  was  recognized  as  being  a  dangerous 
ally  of  the  serpent's  poison.  Snake  venom  from  the  out- 
set and  whiskey  from  the  commencement  of  its  reactive 
effect  were  each  heart  constringents.  The  wound,  enlarged 
by  a  knife-slash,  and  imprisoned  by  a  tourniquetted  thong, 
might  be  plugged  with  either  a  searing  coal  or  else  a  pinch 
of  gunpowder  and  a  Ughted  match.  One  chap,  bitten  on 
the  tip  of  his  finger,  drew  his  gun,  and  blew  off  that  finger 
at  its  second  joint. 

The  alleged  deadhness  of  the  scorpion,  tarantula,  centi- 
pede, and  repulsive-looking  Gila  monster  belonged,  so  far 
as  appeared,  in  the  category  with  the  traditional  venomous- 
ness  of  the  mythical  hoop-snake. 

If  the  ranchman  ran  but  little  peril  from  the  snakes  and 
bugs,  he  ran  no  danger  at  all  from  any  of  the  wild  animals 
except  possibly  one,  the  '^ hydrophobia  skunk,''  with  its 
traditionally  venomous  bite. '  All  the  rest  of  the  wild  beasts, 


DIVERSIONS  AND  RECREATIONS  179 

bears  included,  avoided  man  unless  he  overtly  asked  for 
war.  And,  if  he  did,  the  grizzly  bear  alone  was  dangerous, 
least  of  all  that  terror  in  the  novels,  that  spitting,  snarHng, 
harmless,  cowardly,  overgrown  tabby-cat,  the  mountain-hon. 

Occasionally  the  open  prairie  or  the  forest^s  edge  offered 
entertainment  of  absorbing  interest  and  of  Homeric  gran- 
deur. Either  two  huge  bulls  or  two  great  wapiti,  crashing 
head  on,  charge  after  charge,  struggled  for  the  acknowledged 
leadership  of  an  onlooking  and  admiring  harem.  Or  else 
in  springtime,  the  grizzly  bear,  hungry  from  its  wintering, 
sallied  forth  for  food  and  fancied  veal.  Though  the  great 
brute  knew  its  discount  through  its  still  soft  and  tender 
footpads,  it  failed  to  make  allowance  for  the  spirit  that  was 
latent  in  every  ox  or  cow  upon  the  Range.  On  the  bear's 
approach,  a  bunch  of  cattle  nervously  threw  up  their  heads, 
snorted,  and  galloped  off.  Soon  a  stubby-legged  calf  was 
overtaken  and  struck  down.  Upon  its  squeal,  the  herd 
wheeled,  and  out  of  it  shot,  head  down,  the  bereaved  cow 
or  more  probably  a  berserk  steer,  at  times  to  hilt  its  horn 
in  Bruin's  chest  and  simultaneously  to  receive  a  neck-dis- 
locating smash  from  a  long-nailed  paw. 

In  early  years  one  might  have  seen  a  buffalo  make  the 
same  assault  upon  a  bear. 

In  the  springtime,  also,  there  might  suddenly  appear  above 
the  sage-brush  the  blood-stained  visage  of  a  great,  gray  wolf, 
interrupted  at  its  meal  upon  the  body  of  its  kill,  a  little  calf 
which  its  mother  had  '^ cached."  With  the  cattle  as  with 
the  antelope,  when  a  mother  had  occasion  to  travel  far  for 
water,  she  did  not  take  her  baby  with  her,  but  instead  hid 
it  in  the  brush.  The  youngster,  as  though  hypnotized,  would 
lie  for  hours,  glued  to  the  ground,  absolutely  motionless, 
and  would  make  no  effort  to  escape  from  any  intruder.  He 
might  elude  the  eye  of  man,  but  rarely  the  notice  of  any 
passing  horse,  and  never  the  scent  of  whatever  coyote  or 
timber-wolf  might  wander  near. 


180  THE  COWBOY 

In  winter  there  were  the  footprints  of  wild  life  upon  the 
tracking  snow,  and,  from  time  to  time,  one  might  also  watch 
the  bear  as  he,  having  interrupted  his  hibernation,  inter- 
mittently came  forth  at  noontime  on  pleasant  days,  and 
either  stretched  and  yawned  on  his  seat  in  the  sunshine,  or 
else,  with  rheumatic  motion  and  crabbed  temper,  stubbed 
through  an  exercising  walk. 

To  whatever  observant  man  loved  the  out-of-doors,  na- 
ture was  lavish  in  her  joyous  gifts. 

Another  means  of  relaxation  was  the  horse-race,  not  the 
formal  Sunday  one  run  upon  the  track  at  the  distant  town, 
not  a  competition  between  ponies  of  the  local  ranch,  for  the 
latter  contest  made  no  opportunity  for  bitter  human  parti- 
sanship, but  a  race  between  a  pony  of  the  ranch,  and  some 
other  steed  which  had  come  in  either  imder  the  saddle  of  a 
visiting  puncher  or  under  the  lead  of  a  smooth-tongued 
individual  unrecognized  as  being  a  professional  horse-racer. 
This  oily  man,  ostensibly  interested  only  in  cattle,  presently 
and  with  apparent  reluctance  rode  to  the  starting  line. 
Twenty-seven  seconds  after  his  reaching  there,  the  race 
was  over  and  the  hosts  were  in  pecuniary  distress.  An  ex- 
perience of  this  sort  taught  nothing  to  the  cowboy,  and 
thus  a  considerable  portion  of  his  loose  change  periodically 
passed  to  fleet-footed  vagrants  and  their  hatchet-faced 
gentlemen  escorts. 

Perhaps  mounted  Indians  appeared,  and  then,  the  com- 
peting ponies  having  been  selected,  the  punchers  bet  all 
their  surplus  possessions  against  the  generous  hazards  of 
the  Red  Skins.  Ethnic  pride  goaded  both  the  white  man 
and  the  Indian,  and  the  passing  of  the  stakes  often  left  either 
the  punchers  insolvent  or  the  Indians  afoot. 

Such  part  of  the  cowboys'  winnings  as  were  in  the  form 
of  blankets  or  fur  robes  were  necessarily  and  forthwith 
deposited  by  their  new  owners  upon  ant-hills,  to  rest  there 
several  days  in  order  that  the  industrious,  ever  hungry, 
black  ants  might  delouse  completely  the  wool  or  fur. 


DIVERSIONS  AND  RECREATIONS  181 

Indians^  visits  were  not  welcomed  by  the  cook,  as  the 
latter  not  only  had  to  produce  food,  but  also  was  held  by 
the  ranchers  somewhat  responsible  for  the  condition  of  the 
interior  of  the  house.  The  visiting  Indians  had  three  salient 
quaUties,  one  of  which,  great  sense  of  dignity,  did  not  ap- 
pease the  cook's  irritation  from  the  other  two,  possession 
of  an  insatiate  appetite  which  was  of  appalHng  capacity 
and  possession  also  of  a  superabundance  of  readily  emigrat- 
ing insect  companions. 

The  horse-race  over,  a  foot-race  naturally  followed.  Of 
all  occurrences  upon  the  Range,  the  most  frequent  was 
undoubtedly  movement  by  live  stock,  but  in  close  succes- 
sion came  human  argument  and  foot-races.  It  was  almost 
as  easy  to  launch  a  foot-race  as  it  was  to  start  a  debate. 

Such  a  race  was  a  contest  more  in  strategy  than  in  mere 
speed.  It  occurred  anywhere  that  there  could  be  found 
two  men  not  hopelessly  bow-legged,  and  also  reasonably 
flat  ground  which  was  sufficiently  extensive  to  permit  the 
contestants  without  leaving  the  starting  point  to  determine 
with  their  eyes  a  goal  '^exactly  one  hundred  yards  away 
to  an  inch."  Coats,  if  any,  and  vests  came  off,  but  boots 
and  spurs  stayed  on.  The  contestants  agreed  as  to  which 
of  them  should  give  the  starting-signal,  and  then  began 
edging  up  the  course.  When  the  man  intrusted  with  the 
word  ^'go'^  either  considered  himseK  in  an  advantageous 
position,  or  by  his  sense  of  shame  was  prevented  from 
''scrouging"  farther,  he  shouted  the  unleashing  word.  Al- 
though this  cost  him  a  httle  breath,  the  disadvantage  might 
immediately  be  more  than  offset  by  his  opponent's  finding 
himself  stepping  on  a  discarded  can,  confronted  by  a  set 
of  rabbit-holes,  rushing  up  a  bhnd  alley  in  waist-high,  sturdy 
sage-brush,  or  dragging  on  his  spurs  long  strands  of  rusty 
baling  wire. 

Because  of  one's  opportunity  to  chart  the  location  of  all 
bunkers,  pits,  ditches,  cans,  and  animal's  skeletons  about 
one's  home,  prudence  should  have  withheld  all  visitors 


182  THE  COWBOY 

from  competing  near  any  ranch-house.  But  she  was  dis- 
regarded. The  home  talent  always  won,  for  they  knew 
when  to  tack. 

The  timing  of  the  race  was  done  by  the  contestants' 
guessing,  and  in  perfectly  good  faith  the  time  was  fixed 
either  at  ten  seconds  or  at  a  very  slightly  higher  figure. 

The  cowboy  did  not  reahze  the  actuating  motive  for  his 
picking  out  this  time.  Fundamentally  it  was  resentment 
against  the  East.  The  Atlantic  coast  then  contained  prac- 
tically all  of  the  good  running  tracks,  and  so  held  all  of  the 
records.  The  cowboys,  learning  that  the  official  American 
record  for  one  hundred  yards  was  ten  seconds  and  had  been 
made  in  the  East,  not  discovering  that  but  two  men  had 
been  recorded  as  being  so  speedy,  and  reasoning  that  effete 
Easterners  should  run  no  better  than  they  rode,  calmly 
and  with  no  conscious  attempt  at  deceit  or  braggadocio 
labelled  themselves  as  peers  of  Mercury. 

'^Pitching  horseshoes,"  a  game  identical  with  that  of 
y  quoits  except  that  horseshoes  were  used  instead  of  disks, 
had  here  and  there  spasmodic  popularity. 

Boxing  and  wrestHng  nowhere  appeared  upon  the  Range. 
They  were  incompatible  with  the  cowboy's  temperament, 
and  were  ill-suited  to  his  distorted  legs  and  enfeebled  ankles. 
Nevertheless,  he  would  now  and  then  in  play  fling  his  arms 
around  the  neck  of  some  corralled,  wabbly-legged,  week- 
old  calf  or  colt  and  attempt  to  'Vrastle  it  down,"  there- 
upon to  be  jerked  off  his  feet  and  thrown  into  a  heap. 

Incidentally  the  puncher  almost  never  engaged  in  a  fist 
fight.    He  used  his  gun  instead  of  his  knuckles. 

Baseball  was  never  played. 

A  pleasing  sport  was  riding  madly  after  jack-rabbits. 
Sometimes  it  was  done  in  a  prearranged  way  and  with  the 
accompaniment  of  coursing  dogs.  EngHsh  ranchmen  much 
affected  this.  But  usually  the  affair  meant  no  more  than  an 
impromptu,  harum-scarum  dash  by  a  solitary  horseman 


DIVERSIONS  AND  RECREATIONS  183 

who  had  been  bedevilled  into  speed  by  a  tantalizing  bunny 
with  a  sense  of  humor. 

History  records  comparatively  few  cases  in  which  the 
shrewd,  fleet-footed,  quickly  dodging  rabbit  was  overtaken 
by  either  dog  or  horse. 

Coursing  the  prong-horned  antelope  with  hounds,  and 
either  with  or  without  the  strategy  of  '^flagging,"  was  at- 
tempted occasionally,  this  by  Englishmen  more  often  than 
by  Americans.  Ordinarily  it  gave  to  each  rider  and  his 
horse  considerable  exercise,  and  to  but  few  of  the  antelope 
any  vahd  cause  for  worry. 

Horses,  men,  and  dogs  would  creep  forward  under  cover 
to  within  two  hundred  yards  of  the  quarry,  and,  firmly  con- 
fident of  success,  would  burst  into  the  open.  The  antelope 
would  give  one  startled  look,  wheel,  hoist  their  triangular, 
white-lined  tails,  their  httle,  full-speed-ahead  signals,  and, 
save  in  rare  instances,  promptly  would  change  that  two 
hundred  yards  of  intervening  space  into  a  mile  or  two. 

*^Now,  Jack,  it  was  all  your  fault.  If  you  had  used  sense, 
and  not  gone  at  it  bald-headed,  hadn't  chass6d  out  there 
ahead  of  the  rest  of  us,  we'd  have  gotten  them  this  time 
sure,  and  the  worst  of  it  is  that  that  old  buck  had  the  all- 
firedest  finest  ivory  tips  I  ever  seen  on  any  horns.  Now, 
remember  next  time."  The  next  time  doubtless  would  be 
like  this  and  almost  every  other  time,  save  that  Joe  or  Mike 
or  Bill  might  be  the  scolded  one  in  place  of  Jack. 

Occasionally,  and  particularly  when  the  pursuit  could  be 
made  by  successive  relays  of  huntsmen  and  hounds,  the 
quarry  was  overtaken. 

With  these  same  dogs,  sometimes  the  great,  gray  timber- 
wolf  was  followed  to  the  rock  or  clump  of  brush  against 
which  he,  snarhng,  was  ^' stood  up"  and  ''given  his  medi- 
cine" of  lead. 

From  time  to  time,  a  puncher,  coming  unexpectedly  upon 
some  wild  beast,  impulsively  would  rope  it  before  it  could 


184  THE  COWBOY 

start  its  flight.  Even  the  grizzly  bear,  and  in  early  days 
the  buffalo,  occasionally  received  the  noose.  In  these  latter 
instances  a  repentant  cowboy  well  might  have  lost  his 
breath  if  not  his  rope.  The  West  would  lariat  anything 
that  suddenly  bobbed  up  in  front  and  looked  saucy.  If 
certain  records  be  accurate,  more  than  one  white  man  and 
many  an  Indian  quickly  passed  to  the  Happy  Hunting- 
Ground,  jerked  thither  by  a  reata  caught  about  the  smoke- 
stack of  a  moving  locomotive. 

A  still  further  amusement  was  the  hazing  of  tenderfoot 
guests.  This  hazing  was  never  more  violent  than  the  visitor 
merited,  and  for  manly,  well-hked  innocents  was  usually 
restricted  to  solemn  warnings  against  the  vicious  bucking 
alleged  to  be  latent  within  the  visitor's  very  peaceful  nag, 
to  nocturnal  expeditions  for  the  tyro's  snaring  of  imaginary 
birds,  to  long-winded  tales  that  ingeniously  held  the  lis- 
tener's interest,  but  eventually  disclosed  that  they  had  no 
point,  making  this  disclosure  sometimes  by  reverting  to 
the  starting-place  and  reiterating  word  for  word,  to  exag- 
gerated stories  of  wild  animals,  and  to  enticing  the  gulUble 
man,  by  a  weird  howl  raised  just  without  the  house,  to  rush 
out  of  doors  at  night,  and  fire  at  a  can  punched  with  two 
holes  and  containing  a  Hghted  candle. 

The  conventional  wild-animal  stories  were  all  of  the  sort 
intended  to  carry  fear  to  the  innocent  and  to  make  him  a 
bit  ridiculous  to  his  sophisticated  fellow  auditors.  Ferocious 
attacks  by  wolverines  and  huggings  by  grizzly  bears  were 
favorite  subjects,  the  latent  points  being  that,  though  the 
wolverine  had  great  fierceness,  he  was  probably  the  most 
elusive  animal  in  all  North  America,  and  that  neither  the 
grizzly  nor  any  other  bear,  so  far  as  appeared,  had  ever 
hugged  anybody.  The  bear's  terrible  right  paw  and  his 
teeth  were  his  means  of  attack.  A  mythical  animal  known 
to  cowboy  raconteurs  as  the  ^^wouser"  sometimes  was 
descanted  upon.     The  wouser  was  accorded  any  physical 


DIVERSIONS  AND  RECREATIONS  185 

appearance  and  predatory  habits  which  the  course  of  the 
earlier  conversation  had  seemed  to  warrant.  He  usually, 
however,  was  permitted  to  have  hydrophobia,  and  was  made 
a  subspecies  of  either  the  bear  or  the  mountain-hon. 

Probably  also  advantage  was  taken  of  the  combination 
of  the  newcomer's  credulity  and  of  the  wonderful  clearness 
of  Western  air,  on  the  joint  basis  of  which  he  would  be  sent 
afoot  to  reach  a  hill  which  seemed  to  him  a  league  away, 
but  which  in  reaUty  was  three  times  that  distance.  His 
credulity  might  be  victimized  in  another  way,  for  in  good 
faith  he  might  ride  miles  to  a  ranch  in  a  rocky,  roadless 
country,  and  there  ask  to  borrow  what  that  ranch  patently 
did  not  possess,  a  horse-drawn  buggy. 

A  somewhat  brutal  trick  was  procuring  a  pilgrim  to  pinch 
the  tail  of  a  freshly  decapitated  rattlesnake.  If  the  ex- 
pected result  occurred,  the  snake's  body  through  reflex 
action  of  the  muscles  would  snap  into  a  circle,  the  bleeding 
neck's  stump  would  strike  the  pilgrim's  hand  or  wrist,  and 
the  pilgrim  would  give  a  single  scream,  the  audience  a  series 
of  guffaws. 

Another  form  of  amusement  which  might  from  time  to 
time  be  conducted  for  a  few  minutes  at  table  or  about  a 
camp-fire  was  a  competitive  reciting  of  the  inscriptions 
upon  the  labels  of  the  cans  of  condensed  milk  and  other 
foodstuffs  habitually  used  at  the  ranch.  Partly  for  recrea- 
tive nonsense  and  partly  out  of  loneHness  when  soUtary  in 
camp,  every  ranchman  sooner  or  later  committed  to  memory 
the  entire  texts  upon  these  labels  and  could  repeat  them 
verbatim.  With  a  penalty  of  five  cents  for  each  mistake 
in  punctuation,  of  ten  cents  for  each  error  in  a  word,  the 
competitive  recitals  offered  a  sporting  possibiUty. 

They  were  most  apt  to  occur  when  a  tenderfoot  was  pres- 
ent, not  so  much  because  of  the  opportunity  of  winning  his 
money  (no  tenderfoot  ''knew  his  cans")  as  because  the 
incongruity  of  the  matter  was  apt  to  disconcert  him,  and 


186  THE  COWBOY 

a  conventional  pleasure  upon  the  Range  was  to  ''keep  a 
pilgrim  guessing/*  A  tenderfoot  making  his  initial  Western 
trip  would,  his  first  night  at  a  ranch,  be  sitting  at  the  supper 
table  listening  with  spellbound  attention  to  the  conversa- 
tion of  men  who  had  seen  things  and  done  things.  This 
tenderfoot  would  be  trying  to  lose  no  detail  from  the  talk 
across  the  table  about  the  best  way  in  which  to  ride  cer- 
tain bucking  horses,  from  the  talk  at  the  table's  end  as  to 
just  how  one  of  the  men  in  the  room  had  succeeded  in  escap- 
ing from  the  Nez  Perc^  Indians  during  the  fight  on  the 
Gibbon  River,  when  suddenly  some  one  would  notice  the 
tenderfoot's  rapt  expression,  would  pound  on  the  table,  and 

would  begin  " Brand."    Instantly  mention  of  bucking 

and  of  Indians  would  cease,  and  twelve  or  fourteen  men, 
being  all  the  persons  present  save  only  the  astonished  ten- 
derfoot, would  gaze  at  the  ceihng  and  swing  into  a  full- 
throated  chorus  beginning  with  ''Condensed  milk  is  pre- 
pared from,"  and  continuing  for  some  minutes.  Or  else, 
the  precentor  having  launched  the  opening  words  of  a  dif- 
ferent canticle,  the  crowd  would  take  over  its  continuation, 
and  stentoriously  would  intone,  "Of  peaches.  This  can 
contains/'  etc. 

With  the  last  word  of  the  vociferous  recitative,  whatever 
its  subject,  the  whole  insane  revel  would  stop  short;  and 
with  no  explanations  or  apologies,  the  former  conversations 
would  be  resumed  at  the  points  where  they  had  been  in- 
terrupted. But  the  tenderfoot  would  be  "guessing."  That 
was  what  the  Range  desired. 

The  cowboys  might  play  a  game  of  cards,  seven-up  or 
poker;  but,  if  so,  the  stake  was  as  apt  to  be  relief  from  an 
unpleasant  chore  like  cutting  wood  or  going  for  water  as 
to  be  monetary.  However,  when  "stacked  up"  against 
punchers  from  rival  ranches  or  against  the  pubhc  gaming- 
table, cowboys  were  prone  to  gamble  recklessly;  because, 
once  saddle,  bridle,  rope,  quirt,  chaps,  hat,  and  gun  were 


DIVERSIONS  AND  RECREATIONS  187 

paid  for,  there  was  little  to  purchase  except  tobacco  and 
liquor.  Risking  six  months'  wages  upon  the  turn  of  a  single 
card  was  no  uncommon  bet,  though  its  making  would  arouse 
temporary  interest  among  the  men  about  the  table. 

There  was  httle  or  no  alcoholic  drinking  at  the  ranch, 
for  it  harbored  very  little  alcohol  to  drink,  usually  none  at 
all  beyond  a  small  lot  jealously  preserved  for  prospective 
medicinal  use.  The  one  source  of  supply  was  the  town, 
and  very  few  cowboys  on  visiting  a  settlement  were  after 
the  first  hours  of  their  stay  financially  able  to  endow  a  wine 
cellar.  The  only  opportunities  for  inebriety  were  the  visits 
to  town,  made  as  a  matter  of  course  inmiediately  after  the 
fall  round-up  and  occurring  at  rare  intervals  at  other  times, 
the  semiannual  visits  to  other  ranges  to  assist  in  their 
round-ups  and  be  requited  by  wholesale,  honest  thanks, 
good  food,  and  possibly  a  little  whiskey,  and  also  the  very 
occasional  hoUday  celebrations  at  the  ranch  where  one  was 
employed  or  at  another  ranch  within  reasonable  distance. 

Punchers  were  probably  no  more  given  to  drunkenness 
than  were  the  contemporary  American  men  of  any  other 
non-rehgious  calling  in  any  part  of  the  United  States.  The 
punchers  assuredly  were  apt  to  drink  to  excess  when  they 
first  ^'struck  town''  after  six  months  of  enforced  and  con- 
tinuous abstention  from  all  Hquids  except  water,  tea,  and 
coffee;  but  such  of  the  cowboys  as  for  business  reasons 
had  occasion  to  remain  in  town  for  any  considerable  length 
of  time  subsided  after  the  initial  exuberance  had  spent 
itself,  and  thereafter  imbibed  no  more  than  did  the  town's 
permanent  inhabitants.  The  cowboy  had  to  earn  his  hv- 
ing,  and  he  knew  that  in  the  long  run  wages  and  alcohol 
were  inconsistent. 

WTien  the  cowboy  got  drunk  he  did  not  do  it  in  any 
highly  specialized  way,  or  signify  his  inebriety  by  any  tech- 
nical methods.  He  merely  got  drunk.  On  this  point  the 
dramatist  has  attempted  to  make  a  false  differentiation, 


\ 


188  THE  COWBOY 

and,  after  filling  his  puncher  with  Hquor,  invariably  has 
caused  him  to  shoot. 

The  drunken  cowboy  was  like  the  drunken  Easterner, 
except  in  the  subjects  which  he  chose  for  maudUn  discus- 
sion. One  told  of  the  magnificence  of  the  saddle  he  owned 
or  was  about  to  acquire;  the  other  told  of  the  millions  of 
dollars  he  had  amassed  or  was  about  to  amass,  or  else  de- 
scribed the  Mayflowers  voyage  from  start  to  finish  and 
filled  the  ship  with  his  ancestors.  Surliness  brought  up  the 
Easterner's  fists  and  out  the  Westerner's  gun.  But  that 
gun  rarely  went  off,  for  a  friendly  bystander  usually  seized 
it. 

Drunken  cowboys  often  made  picturesque  statements. 
Charhe  (no  last  name,  please,  for  he  has  grandchildren  now) 
would  offer  to  go  into  a  biting  contest  with  any  grizzly  bear, 
and  to  ''give  that  thar  bar  a  handicap.  He  can  have  first 
bite.'' 

When  the  puncher  drank,  he  generally  demanded  Hquor 
of  good  quality.  Bourbon  whiskey  was  his  mainstay, 
though  in  the  Southwest  he  at  times  toyed  with  mescal. 
Wliiskey  was  taken  ''straight."  Mixed  drinks  were  so  en- 
tirely unknown  that  there  was  opportunity  for  some  one 
to  invent  the  story  of  the  Easterner  who,  in  a  frontier  bar- 
room, said:  "I  guess  I'll  take  a  cocktail,"  and  was  told: 
"You  don't  guess,  you  drink,  and  you  gets  it  straight  and 
in  a  tin  cup." 

Courtesy  required  that  the  puncher,  when  he  drank,  fill 
his  glass  to  the  brim,  and,  in  carrying  it  to  his  lips,  use  his 
right,  his  gun  hand.  He  so  filled  his  glass  not  because  he 
wished  to  drink  that  much,  not  that  he  might  impose  upon 
the  purveyor,  but  solely  because  a  filled  glass  both  showed 
to  the  giver  that  the  recipient  highly  valued  the  quahty 
of  the  gift,  and  also  established  that  the  donor  was  not  dis- 
pensing goods  unpalatable  to  himself. 

The  Western  barmen  eventually  offset  the  draining  effect 


DIVERSIONS  AND  RECREATIONS  189 

of  thorough  urbanity  by  investing  in  glasses  with  inordi- 
nately thick  bottoms. 

The  cowboy  avoided  so  far  as  possible  sharing  as  giver 
or  recipient  any  drinks  with  soldiers.  This  antipathy  to 
the  mihtary  was  not  founded  on  any  lack  of  patriotism,  but 
it  did  have  two  clearly  defined  bases.  The  puncher,  whether 
mistakenly  or  not,  confidently  blamed  the  private  soldier 
for  the  physical  contamination  of  a  certain  class  of  women 
in  the  frontier  towns.  Then,  too,  the  army  had  been  the 
only  pohcer  of  the  West,  and  thus  the  cowboy  had  acquired 
toward  the  army  as  a  whole  the  same  quasi-resentment 
that  has  ever  marked  the  attitude  of  the  college  under- 
graduate toward  the  faculty  above  him. 

As  a  further  source  of  recreation  there  was  an  occasional 
dance  usually  on  the  eve  of  a  public  feast-day,  the  round- 
up's close.  Thanksgiving,  Christmas,  or  New  Year's.  Al- 
though at  these  functions  female  partners  were  at  a  pre- 
mium, the  men  attended  with  alacrity. 

Two  hundred  miles  was  not  too  far  to  go.  The  dearth 
of  femininity  was  partly  made  good  by  such  men  as,  un- 
selfishly volunteering  to  ''dance  lady  fashion,"  were  ''heifer- 
branded''  by  a  handkerchief  tied  on  the  arm,  and  all  swept 
the  floor  with  considerable  enthusiasm.  The  dancing,  while 
not  graceful,  was  assuredly  vigorous. 

The  truth  was  that,  with  ranches  at  least  fifteen,  thirty, 
fifty  miles  apart,  and  hard  work  to  be  done,  there  were 
neither  means  nor  leisure  for  much  recreation.  Argument 
and  repeated  surveys  of  the  mail-order  catalogue  were  the 
principal  sources  of  relaxation.  These  surveys  released 
imagination's  bonds,  and  let  reason  weigh  the  comparative 
merits  of  various  pictured  grand  pianos,  wedding-dresses, 
rowboats,  seashore  parasols,  "nobby  clothing  for  city  use," 
and  "best  grade  gilt  frames"  containing  "genuine  oil-paint- 
ings." 


CHAPTER  X 

THE  DAY'S  WORK 

— MORNING  SADDLING — OUTRIDING — BLABBING — 
animals'  AILMENTS — PORCUPINES — ^WAGONS  AND  JERK  LINES — BULL 
WHIP — VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS — SHOEING  HORSES — CLOUDBURST — INDIAN 
FIGHTING — MORE  DEFINITIONS — PRAIRIE  FIRES — THEIR  CAUSE — CYCLONES 
— WINTER  HARDSHIPS — FREEZE — WINTER  GRAZING — DROWNINGS — WAGES 
— DRIFT — BOX  CANYONS — STORMS — RIDING  IN  DIFFICULT  COUNTRY — SELF- 
SUFFICIENCY  OF  BRONCOS — ^WOLFERS  AND  WOLVES 

The  next  morning's  ''sun  up"  brought  every  one,  new- 
comer included,  down  to  every-day  work.  This  was  usually 
of  merely  routine  nature,  but  from  time  to  time  it  swung 
suddenly  into  exciting  channels. 

The  day's  business  started  early.  With  the  first  break 
of  dawn,  the  crusty,  ever-growling  cook  was  out  of  his 
kitchen  bunk,  lit  his  fire,  gave  to  the  ''horse  wrangler"  the 
xmwelcome,  conventional,  morning  salutation  of  "roll  out," 
and  then  set  about  preparing  breakfast. 

All  during  the  night  the  riding  ponies  had  grazed  in  close 
proximity  to  the  house,  had  stamped  about  it,  and  occa- 
sionally had  put  their  noses  to  its  cracks,  sniffingly  to  satisfy 
either  curiosity  or  a  desire  for  human  companionship.  Al- 
though the  wrangler  rose  the  moment  he  was  called  and 
limited  his  toilet  to  putting  on  his  hat,  the  first  wreath  of 
blue  smoke  from  the  chimney  already  had  warned  the  horses 
of  impending  work;  and,  by  the  time  the  wrangler  got  out 
of  doors,  not  within  haK  a  mile  was  there  a  single  steed 
save  only  the  few  dejected  "night  horses"  inside  of  the  cor- 
ral. One  of  the  latter  was  saddled,  and  the  much  scattered 
band  of  ponies  was  rounded-up,  to  trot  with  passive  indig- 
nation into  the  fenced  enclosure. 

Breakfast  did  not  long  delay  the  men.    In  quick  succes- 

190 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  191 

sion,  the  lesser  eaters  first  in  order,  they  carried  their  sad- 
dles and  bridles  to  the  corral,  and  in  a  trice  had  the  animals 
equipped  for  service. 

On  cold  days  the  more  kindly  riders  held  their  bits  a 
moment  before  the  fire,  and  shielded  them  by  a  glove  or 
a  coat  flap  during  the  transit  between  the  inner  house  and 
the  horse's  mouth.  They  did  this  despite  foreknowledge  of 
their  broncos'  prospective  seeming  lack  of  gratitude.  Each 
of  those  exasperating  little  brutes  would  stand,  head  hang- 
ing meekly  downward,  and  would  resignedly  permit  the 
bridle  to  be  put  atop  his  crown,  but  the  instant  the  bit 
approached  his  mouth  this  latter  part  of  his  anatomy  in 
some  mysterious  way  would  be  pointed  abnost  directly  up- 
ward and  be  projected  from  a  semivertical  neck. 

After  withstanding  a  slap  or  two  and  receiving  many 
profane  requests,  the  pony  would  lower  his  head  to  an  easily 
reachable  position;  would  release  the  vise-like  set  in  which 
his  closed  jaw  had  been;  would  accept  the  bit  and  busily 
embark  upon  the  champing  of  its  roller;  would  fairly  shove 
his  forehead  against  his  master's  hands  that  crumpled  ears 
might  be  made  more  comfortable;  would  take  the  saddle; 
would  gaze  reproachfully  at  his  tormenter;  and  then  ap- 
parently would  doze  off. 

Whoever  was  outside  of  the  corral  could  by  his  hearing 
alone  accurately  follow  the  events  within.  Seeing  was  un- 
necessary. 

At  the  house  door  a  rider  had  paused  and  said:  ''IVe 
warmed  up  this  bit,  acause  I'm  riding  the  finest  little  cow 
horse  this  State  has  ever  seen.  It  sure  has  earned  the  right 
to  decent  treatment." 

Then  the  man  had  disappeared  into  the  corral.  There 
wafted  out  of  it  statements  which,  if  carefully  censored, 
would  read  as  follows:  "Good  morning,  Pete.  Hope  you're 
well.  Got  a  little  piece  of  iron  candy  for  you.  Stop  fool- 
ing, Pete.    Stop  your  kidding.    Stop  that,  I  tell  you.    Pete, 


192  THE  COWBOY 

stop  that.  Stop  it,  I  say.  Look  here,  you  dodgasted,  pale 
pink,  wall-eyed,  glandered,  spavined  cayuse,  pull  down  that 
injur  rubber-neck  of  yourn,  or  I'll  skin  you  alive,  and  mash 
in  your  sides  to  hell  and  gone.  Hold  still,  pony,  and  I'll 
fix  your  ear.  Is  that  comfortable  ?  Now,  Pete,  here  comes 
the  saddle.  Whoa,  pony,  stop  twitching  your  fool  back. 
Now,  Pete,  the  front  cinch's  fixed.  All  we've  got  left  is 
the  hind  one.  Pete,  you  dog-goned,  inflated,  lost  soul,  let 
out  that  wind  and  do  it  quick,  or  I'll  bust  you  wide  open. 
Quit  that,  Pete.  Quit  it,  I  say.  Good,  old  Pete,  you  sure 
are  some  horse." 

During  warm  weather  life  was  comparatively  easy.  There 
were,  of  course,  the  spring  and  fall  round-ups.  The  re- 
sultant ''drives"  to  the  ''shipping  point"  at  the  railroad 
were  made  in  autumn  only,  if  the  ranch  were  one  for  raising 
beef,  or  more  frequently,  possibly,  than  in  both  spring  and 
autumn,  if  horses  were  the  product. 

There  was  the  "gentling"  of  these  horses.  If  the  ranch 
were  in  a  section  that  necessitated  use  of  a  different  feed- 
ing-ground in  winter  from  that  of  summer,  the  live  stock 
would  be  shifted  semiannually  from  one  of  these  ranges  to 
the  other,  the  "winter  range"  being  in  the  "low  country," 
while  the  "summer  range"  would  be  either  upon  the  higher 
"benches,"  or  on  the  upper  levels  of  the  hills. 

There  were  inspection  trips  about  the  Range,  so-called 
"outridings,"  to  discover  the  location  and  physical  state 
of  the  scattered  groups  of  stock,  to  ascertain  the  condition 
of  the  water-supply  and  grass,  to  move  the  stock  to  fresh 
grounds  if  food  or  drink  were  found  to  be  insufficient,  to 
fend  the  animals  away  from  known  patches  of  loco-weed, 
to  discover  by  "riding  sign"  whether  any  beasts  were  stray- 
ing too  far  afield  and  if  so  to  turn  them  homeward,  to  rescue 
through  a  tightly  drawn  lariat  and  straining  pony  some 
bogged  or  mired  steer  or  horse  and  possibly  receive  reward 
in  a  charge  by  muddy,  irate  horns,  to  watch  for  signs  of 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  193 

thieves,  settlers,  and  predatory  animals,  and,  if  necessary, 
to  lay  traps  or  poisoned  baits  for  wolves,  and  finally,  on 
such  ranches  as  ''blabbed"  their  calves,  to  put  ''blabs"  on 
the  noses  of  whatever  baby  cattle  deserved  the  unsightly 
Uttle  board. 

Here  and  there  about  the  Range  would  appear  a  lusty 
calf  with  an  emaciated  mother.  If  the  calf  were  old  enough, 
a  thin  board,  six  inches  by  eight  in  size,  was,  at  the  centre 
of  one  of  its  longer  edges,  cUpped  onto  the  infant's  nose. 
Thereafter  he  could  perfectly  well  graze,  but  he  assuredly 
was  weaned.  Blabbing  was  not  always  easy  of  accomplish- 
ment. The  calf  and  his  mater  had  to  be  chased  so  far  apart 
as  to  permit  the  cowboy  to  rope  and  throw  the  calf,  attach 
the  blab,  and  remount  his  horse  before  there  should  arrive, 
head  down  and  on  the  gallop,  an  irate  and  sharp-horned  cow. 

Diseased  or  injured  animals  were  inspected,  and,  accord- 
ing to  the  nature  of  the  disease  or  injury,  were  treated  or 
destroyed.  If  disease  required  the  animals'  isolation,  the 
latter  was  effected  through  herding  the  animals  by  them- 
selves under  charge  of  a  detachment  of  punchers;  for,  in 
the  absence  of  gathered  hay,  imprisonment  in  foodless  cor- 
rals was  impracticable.  No  oversight  was  given  to  ma- 
ternity cases,  and  births  occurred  wherever  upon  the  Range 
the  mother  happened  to  be. 

The  Northwest  harbored  one  particular  ailment  con- 
cerning which  many  tenderfoots,  and  even  many  of  the 
ignorant  farmers,  had  extraordinary  misinformation.  In 
terrifically  cold  weather,  cattle's  hoofs  and  horns  some- 
times would  freeze,  and  thereafter  the  horns,  on  thawing, 
would  in  some  instances  fall  off.  The  discarded  horns,  of 
course,  were  hollow,  as  were  the  horns  of  all  cattle;  but 
ignorant  finders  of  the  castaways  created  in  good  faith  the 
disease  of  "Hollow  Horn,"  and  deluged  governmental  of- 
ficers with  requests  for  curative  prescriptions. 

In  addition  to  all  these  incidents  of  "outriding,"  there 


194  THE  COWBOY 

might  be  the  work  of  salvage  at  some  cloudburst's  scene, 
a  prairie-fire  to  suppress,  an  urgent  call  for  aid  against  ma- 
rauding Indians,  or  the  start  for  a  drive  either  on  the  Texas 
Trail  or  from,  say,  Oregon  to  Wyoming. 

Perhaps,  also,  there  arrived  a  puncher  testy  from  the 
import  of  his  message:  ^'A  couple  of  you  come  up  with  me 
to  Indian  Creek.  The  porcupines  have  gotten  in  there,- 
and  ten  of  our  best  mares  have  kicked  themselves  plumb 
full  of  quills."  This  meant  for  the  unfortunate  horses  no 
danger,  but  considerable  discomfort.  One  by  one  they 
would  be  thrown  and  triced  fore  and  aft  by  lariats,  while 
a  very  irate  gentleman  squatted  at  their  heels,  plied  pincers 
on  the  offending  quills  and  volubly  cursed  all  the  members 
of  the  Rodent  family  from  the  original  inmaigrants  down 
to  the  then  present  generation. 

Zoologists  possibly  know  whether  or  not  the  porcupine 
had  functions  in  addition  to  the  three  he  exhibited  to  the 
cowboy.  These  were  eating  latigos  and  saddles,  decorating 
horses'  hock  joints,  and  using  Towser's  inquisitive  nose  for 
a  pincushion. 

Mail  had  to  be  carried  to  and  from  the  post-office,  per- 
haps a  hundred  miles  or  more  away;  and  yearly  the  wagons 
had  to  make  a  long  trip  for  supphes. 

These  wagons,  stout,  springless,  creaking  things,  travers- 
ing unconscionable  roads  and  country  devoid  of  road,  tak- 
ing to  the  boulder-strewn  beds  of  streams  when  the  map 
turned  on  edge,  were  dragged  on  their  bumping,  noisy  way 
by  two  or  more  spans,  all  driven  by  a  man  seated  upon  the 
wagon's  front  and  handhng  ordinary  reins. 

Or  else  the  wagons  were  drawn  by  a  ^'jerk-Hne  string," 
a  string  of  horses  or  mules  harnessed  either  in  single  file  or 
in  a  series  of  spans,  and,  in  either  case,  following  a  highly 
trained  leader  controlled  by  a  ''jerk  line."  This  jerk  line, 
a  single,  continuous  rein,  starting  from  its  fastening  at  the 
top  of  the  brake  handle,  extended  to  and  through  the  hand 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  195 

of  the  driver,  who  either  was  astride  the  wheel  horse  (the 
near  one,  if  two)  or  was  seated  on  the  wagon^s  front.  The 
Hne  continued  thence  along  the  long  file  of  horses'  backs 
and  to  the  left  side  of  the  ''lead  animal's''  bit,  this  without 
touching  the  bit  of  any  intermediate  brute.  A  single,  steady- 
pull  on  the  line  guided  this  lead  animal  to  the  left.  Two 
or  more  short  jerks  turned  it  to  the  right.  Constant  and 
loudly  voiced  reiterations  of  the  old,  oxen-driving  commands 
of  ''gee"  and  "haw"  directed  the  intervening  beasts;  and 
also,  with  the  leading  one,  supplemented  the  effect  of  the 
jerk  line. 

Profanity  and  a  whip  did  the  rest;  did  it  easily  unless 
the  wagon  outran  its  brake,  and  sUding  onto  the  heels  of 
its  motive  beasts  caused  them  to  "jack-knife,"  which  is 
to  say,  to  turn  backward  at  an  acute  angle.  In  such  event, 
profanity  outdid  itself. 

Commonly,  with  animals  in  a  series  of  spans,  the  left- 
hand  beast  in  the  front  span  was  the  only  "lead"  animal, 
and  thus  alone  had  the  honor  of  holding  the  jerk  hne.  In 
such  case,  he  and  his  span-mate  would  have  their  bits  con- 
nected by  a  short  strap,  thus  causing  the  span-mate  to  be 
towed  to  the  left  when  he  was  not  either  walking  peace- 
fully forward  or,  by  his  companion,  being  violently  pushed 
to  the  right.  But,  if  this  span-mate  were  qualified  to  share 
in  the  leadership,  the  jerk  line,  toward  its  far,  outer  end, 
would,  for  a  way,  be  spUt  lengthwise,  one  branch  so  pro- 
duced being  attached  to  the  bit  of  the  left-hand  lead  beast, 
the  other  branch  being  fastened  to  the  bit  of  the  span-mate, 
in  each  case  to  the  bit's  left  side. 

The  driver  of  any  "string  team,"  whether  it  were  single 
or  double,  might  operate  it  unassisted,  or  there  might  be 
upon  the  wagon  an  aide  who  was  termed  a  "lasher,"  and 
whose  task  was  to  swing  the  whip,  to  push  upon  the  brake- 
handle  as  the  driver,  with  his  jerk  hne,  pulled  it  forward, 
and  finally  to  co-operate  in  the  swearing. 


196  THE  COWBOY 

The  whip  mentioned  above  either  was  a  wooden  stock 
four  feet  or  so  in  length  and  with  a  long,  slender  lash  at- 
tached, or  else  was  in  the  form  of  the  now  historic  ''bull 
whip."  This  latter  instrument  was  a  short  stock  which 
carried  fifteen  to  twenty-five  feet  of  plaited,  rawhide  lash. 
This  lash  was  quite  thick  near  the  stock  and,  weighted  there 
with  lead,  tapered  to  a  point,  and  so  continued  into  a  buck- 
skin ''popper"  three  feet  long.  It  could,  at  the  wielder's 
choice,  land  anywhere,  silently  or  with  a  pistol  crack,  and 
this  with  either  the  gentleness  of  a  falling  leaf  or  force  suf- 
ficient to  remove  four  square  inches  of  equine  skin. 

Often  on  steep  "side  hills,"  cowboys,  riding  above  the 
wagon,  fastening  their  lariats  to  the  top  of  its  load,  and 
having  their  ponies  pull  back  with  all  their  might  were  all 
that  prevented  an  overturn  or  a  shp  to  the  bottom  of  the 
decUvity.  Upgrades  frequently  were  negotiable  only  be- 
cause these  cowboys,  with  lariats  taut  between  wagon  and 
saddle  horns,  rode  beside  the  vehicle,  their  ponies  "scratch- 
ing gravel,"  hauhng  with  prodigious  enthusiasm,  and  giving 
welcome  aid  to  the  "work  horses"  straining  in  the  harness. 

The  tractive  power  in  the  combination  of  a  man,  a  horse, 
a  lariat,  and  a  stock-saddle  was  at  first  sight  astonishing. 
The  logs  for  many  a  ranch  building  thus  were  "snaked" 
from  the  forest  to  the  house  site.  It  was  the  ordinary  way 
of  transporting  wood  to  the  camp-fire. 

Frequently,  when  descending  a  sharp  decHvity,  the  wagon 
was  held  in  check  by  ropes  tied  to  the  rear  axle,  twined  about 
convenient  trees,  rocks,  or  saddle  horns,  and  slowly  paid  out. 

The  wagons  were  driven  by  "teamsters,"  not  by  cow- 
boys. The  latter  essayed  few  tasks  that  could  not  be  ac- 
complished from  a  bronco's  back.  The  punchers  described 
themselves  as  being  "too  proud  to  cut  hay  and  not  wild 
enough  to  eat  it."  The  puncher  was  so  wedded  to  horse- 
back that,  when  he  took  to  a  wheeled  vehicle,  if  only  as  an 
extra  passenger,  he,  as  he  said,  "rode  the  wagon,"  and  did 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  197 

not  ride  "on"  or  "in"  it.  Of  course,  a  teamster  might  once 
have  been  a  cowboy,  but  no  one  "teamed"  or  "threw  the 
bull"  so  long  as  he  still  could  sit  the  buck. 

Did  the  teamster  quit  his  ranching  hfe  and  drive  a  freight- 
wagon  on  some  regular  transportation  route,  he  thereby 
ceased  to  be  a  teamster  and  became  a  "freighter,"  this  last 
term  having  been  until  well  into  the  decade  of  the  seven- 
ties interchangeable  with  "a  professional."  While  still 
called  a  freighter,  he  might  coincidentally  be  termed  also 
either  a  "skinner"  or  "mule  skinner,"  or  else  a  "bull 
whacker,"  according  as  his  tractive  animals  were  mules  or, 
as  far  more  often  in  the  earlier  years  than  in  the  later,  yokes 
of  oxen;  and  if  his  outfit  were  a  jerk-hne  one,  he  was  apt 
to  be  termed  exclusively  a  skinner.  In  Range  English,  one 
did  not  "drive"  a  jerk-line  string,  but  instead  "skinned" 
it. 

Teamsters  used  all  the  cowboys^  profanity,  and  in  addi- 
tion had  "private  cuss-words"  of  their  own.  Their  "chari- 
ots," "sulkies,"  "barouches,"  "gigs,"  "buggies,"  or  what- 
ever else  they  chose  to  term  their  heavy  wains,  fairly  reeked 
with  blasphemy.  Thus  a  "wagon  outfit"  was  no  silent 
cortege. 

The  teamsters,  while  on  their  trips,  were  apt  toward 
evening  to  receive  much  flattery  from  attendant  ranch- 
men. The  reason  for  this  was  that  each  teamster  had  entire 
jurisdiction  over  the  "sheet"  of  his  wagon,  and  this  canvas 
cover  when  laid  upon  the  ground  made  a  warm  and  wind- 
proof  bed  for  several  men.  Throughout  the  Range,  any 
custodian  of  a  "tarpoleon"  or  "tarp,"  as  the  West  termed 
all  canvases  not  specifically  entitled  as  either  "pack  covers" 
or  "wagon  sheets,"  was  very  popular  after  nightfall. 

The  paucity  of  bridges  and  the  absence  of  decent  roads 
imposed  upon  the  teamsters  in  rainy  weather  many  a  halt, 
some  of  them  each  of  several  days^  duration.  Such  com- 
pulsory stoppings  were  termed  "lay  ups,"  while  voluntary 


198  THE  COWBOY 

delays,  particularly  in  towns  or  at  ranches,  were  called 
*4ay  overs." 

The  country  might  be  too  rough  to  permit  the  wagons 
to  reach  far-outlying  stations,  and  for  such  places  the  ''pack- 
train''  of  bundle-carrying  horses  was  the  only  transporter 
of  food. 

But  the  list  of  daily  chores  is  not  finished.  Horses  had 
to  be  shod,  work  animals  on  all  four  feet,  saddle  animals, 
if  at  all,  on  the  front  feet  only  unless  the  beasts  were  to  be 
used  in  very  rocky  country.  In  this  latter  event,  they  were 
usually  shod  ''all  round,"  i.  e.,  on  each  of  their  four  feet. 

Repairs  had  to  be  made  to  saddles  and  to  wagons. 
Lariats  and  harnesses  had  to  be  mended. 

In  the  shoeing  of  horses,  the  shoes  employed  were  every- 
where ordinary  metal  ones,  except  that  in  the  far  South- 
west occasionally  an  Apache  Indian  habit  was  adopted, 
and  green  rawhide  was  wrapped  about  the  hoofs,  there  to 
dry  and  become  almost  as  hard  as  iron. 

The  shoeing  of  the  average  Range  horse  was  disturbing 
to  human  tranquillity.  The  shoeing  of  some  horses  was  a 
miracle  or  a  devilment  according  as  one  viewed  it.  Bill 
Evans  one  morning  said:  "I'll  shoe  that  pinto  cayuse  right 
arter  breakfast,  and  I  reckon  I'd  better  pin  shoes  onto  all 
his  feet.  Joe,  you  come  down  and  help."  Presently,  from 
the  corral  rose  snorts  and  the  sounds  of  scuffling,  the  strident 
voice  of  Bill  and  the  bellowing  tones  of  Joe,  all  merged  into 
a  single  hymn  of  trouble.  One  of  the  ranch  owners,  saun- 
tering over  that  way,  found  an  angry  pony  glaring  at  two 
perspiring  men,  and  asked :  "Shod  him  ?  "  He  was  answered 
by  Bill:  "Guess  so.  Tacked  iron  onto  everything  that  flew 
past.  It  sure  is  a  heaven-sent  mercy  that  broncs  ain't  centi- 
pedes." 

The  cloudburst,  when  it  came,  produced  a  real  task. 

There  had  been  a  long  period  of  rainless  weather;  and 
panting  cattle,  for  mile  after  mile  along  the  almost  dried- 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  199 

up  bed  of  a  high-banked,  meandering  stream,  were  drink- 
ing at  the  isolated,  surviving  pools.  Black  clouds  gathered. 
They  coalesced.  Then  Hghtning  split  the  sky;  and,  be- 
tween the  sky  and  ground,  the  down-pouring  water  was 
so  dense  as  to  make  breathing  difficult.  All  of  the  deluge 
that  fell  upon  the  prairie,  baked  as  it  was  like  a  tile, 
rivuletted  into  the  main  stream.  In  too  few  minutes  for 
the  cattle^s  realization  they  were  in  danger;  and,  merely 
seconds  after  that,  they  were  the  playthings  of  a  brown, 
swirling  flood. 

At  some  sand-bar  or  sharp  angle,  the  floating  cattle 
jammed.  Into  that  mess,  which  was  here  writhing,  moan- 
ing, wounded,  here  struggling  but  unharmed,  there  motion- 
less and  dead,  cowboys  delved  with  lariats  and  tugging 
ponies. 

Shots  ended  suffering.  The  next  chapter  was  skinning 
of  carcasses  and  drying  of  hides. 

A  clash  with  Indians  was  often  no  mean  affair.  After 
the  government  had  forced  the  Indians  onto  reservations 
and  thus  had  left  the  bulk  of  the  plains  to  the  ranchers, 
an  Indian  tribe  occasionally  ''jumped"  its  reservation, 
and  in  a  carefully  planned  ''uprising"  or  "outbreak"  went 
upon  the  war-path.  Cowboys  would  be  drawn  into  this  so- 
called  war,  either  through  running  foul  of  the  belligerent 
Red  Skins  or  being  taken  on  by  the  army  for  auxiliary  ser- 
vice. 

But  there  was  another  and  lesser  form  of  Indian  distur- 
bance which  was  more  frequent,  and  with  which  the  puncher 
had  more  proximate  connection.  From  time  to  time  num- 
bers of  the  Red  Men  in  entire  peacefulness  and,  either  pur- 
suant to  shooting  permits  or  in  childlike  defiance  of  regu- 
lations, wandered  beyond  their  reservation's  limits.  With 
the  unreasoning  inability  of  the  Indians  to  resist  their  de- 
sires, attractive  horses  were  presently  "rustled"  and  driven 
away,  while  fat  cattle  were  killed  and  eaten. 


'^ 


200  THE  COWBOY 

A  cowboy  came  onto  the  scene  and  attempted  to  save 
the  white  owner's  property.  Shots  eventually  were  fired. 
News  of  the  affair  flashed  through  mysterious  Indian  chan- 
nels back  to  the  reservation,  and  out  poured  its  more  miU- 
tant  inmates.  News  of  this  leave-taking  sped  up  the  Range, 
carried  by  a  galloping  horseman  and  by  three  shots  from  a 
rifle.  The  ultimately  concentrated  cowboys  advanced  upon 
a  group  of  the  still  bewildered  and  indecisive  Indians;  and, 
answering  a  single  shot  by  a  scattering  volley,  blew  away 
all  indecision  and  started  an  active  fighting. 

The  soldiers  arrived  later,  and  brought  to  an  end  hostili- 
ties that  never  would  have  commenced  had  the  mihtary 
uniform  appeared  on  the  scene  before  the  cowboy  did.  Once 
the  soldiers  arrived,  the  punchers  present  might  be  asked 
to  assist  as  packers  or  guides;  but  often  and  because  of 
their  notorious  lack  of  interracial  diplomacy  they  were 
urged  in  the  most  forcible  language  known  by  the  army  to 
withdraw  from  the  neighborhood.  The  directness  and 
promptness  of  punchers'  methods  did  not  accord  with  In- 
dian mentahty,  and  to  the  cowboys'  honest  but  ill-advised 
action  in  affairs  of  this  sort  must  be  laid  many  a  subsequent, 
serious,  uprising  by  the  Red  Man. 

The  term  ^'rustle"  employed  above  had  curious  and  in- 
consistent usage  in  that,  when  applied  to  Hve  stock,  it  al- 
most always  impUed  stealing;  but  when  relating  to  any- 
thing other  than  hve  stock  it,  with  almost  equal  regularity, 
denoted  a  legitimate  getting. 

The  much-used  term  '^ outfit"  had  similarly  diversified 
meanings;  and  variously  signified,  according  to  its  con- 
text, the  combined  people  engaged  in  any  one  enterprise 
or  hving  in  any  one  establishment,  a  party  of  people  travel- 
ling together,  or  the  physical  belongings  of  any  person  or 
group  of  persons. 

The  prairie-fire  sometimes  produced  exciting  duties. 
Fires  were  frequent;  but  usually  were  of  small  importance, 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  201 

and,  if  promptly  attacked,  easily  exterminated.  At  other 
times,  however,  they  were  terrif3dng. 

For  successive  weeks  an  arid  heat  and  a  lifeless  air,  at 
ten  o'clock  acrid  whiffs  and  a  blurred  horizon,  but  at  twelve 
o'clock  a  biting  smell  and  the  horizon  gone.  Out  there, 
somewhere,  was  a  line  of  grimy  men  desperately  fighting 
to  stop  the  march  of  the  advancing  flames  that  the  latter 
might  burn  themselves  out  upon  their  self-selected  battle- 
ground. Punchers  with  eyebrows  and  eyelashes  gone,  with 
wet  handkerchiefs  over  mouth  and  nose,  in  mad  haste  but 
with  cool  reasoning,  *' straddled"  the  fire;  two  mounted 
men,  one  on  either  side  of  the  flames,  dragging  behind  them 
at  their  lariats'  ends  a  green  hide  or  wet  blanket.  Other 
men  either  mounted  or  afoot,  scarred  and  intrepid  hke  their 
brothers,  beat  upon  the  fire's  side-Unes  with  similar  utensils 
or  with  bunches  of  brush. 

The  thickness  of  the  grass  or  the  velocity  of  the  wind 
might  generate  heat  or  movement  such  as  to  make  strad- 
dling unfeasible,  and  then  the  only  remedy  was  to  '^  back- 
fire" across  the  enemy's  prospective  line  of  march.  Along 
the  zone  selected  for  the  '' back-fire,"  a  horseman  trailed 
a  bundle  of  burning  fagots.  The  flames  thus  started  were 
held  in  check  on  their  homeward  side  by  straddhng  them. 

In  the  early  stages  of  the  contest,  living  warnings  inter- 
mittently came  out  of  the  wall  of  smoke,  for  an  occasional 
deer  or  antelope,  a  solitary  horse  or  steer  would  rush,  wild- 
eyed,  past  the  toihng  men.  Thus  the  best  experts  on  the 
subject  of  danger  had  advised  human  retreat,  but  such 
retreat  was  not  to  be  considered. 

The  last  of  these  fleeing  animals  had  passed  through  the 
line  of  fire  fighters.  There  was  a  sudden  puff  far  in  the 
rear,  and  in  an  instant  the  prairie  behind  the  men  was 
ablaze.  It  was  mount  and  reach  the  shelter  given  by  a 
projecting  hill,  by  the  bottom  of  a  coulee,  by  a  grassless, 
''buffalo  wallow,"  or,  in  the  language  of  the  craft,  it  would 


202  THE  COWBOY 

be  '^ fried  gent,"  "no  breakfast  forever,"  and  the  "long 
trail  to  Kingdom  Come." 

With  safety  thus  attained,  the  next  and  an  immediate 
task  was  to  gallop  down  to  leeward,  again  to  move  out  be- 
fore the  flames,  and  to  re-engage  the  enemy  upon  the  same 
tactics  as  before. 

There  was  peril  in  the  extensive  fires,  for  they  would 
sulk  and  make  slow  progress  for  a  time,  and  then  would 
leap  forward  in  irregular  frontage  more  rapidly  than  a  horse 
could  run.  They,  on  occasion,  would  travel  for  many  miles. 
The  peril  was  particularly  for  such  as  had  to  fight  the  flames 
and  so,  having  to  stand  their  ground,  could  not  materially 
shift  position.  But  any  one  who  merely  sought  escape 
would  find  that,  through  the  average  fire,  ran  here  and  there 
safe  lanes  made  up  of  interrupted  and  quite  dissimilar  ele- 
ments, a  stream's  bed,  a  rocky  ledge,  a  bit  of  grassless 
earth. 

Of  these  fires,  some  were  caused  by  Hghtning  or  by  sparks 
from  locomotives,  others  had  broken  away  from  farmers 
who  had  planned  a  merely  local  burning  in  order  to  fer- 
tihze  their  lands  or  to  rid  the  latter  of  annoying  weeds, 
others  had  escaped  beyond  the  tract  in  which  cattlemen 
either  were  eliminating  loco  plants,  or  else,  warring  against 
sheep,  had  dehberately  kindled  flames  for  the  purpose  of 
"cooking  mutton."  Still  others  came  from  the  carelessness 
of  campers  or  of  smokers,  while,  in  the  earher  years,  still 
others  represented  Indians'  attempts  to  drive  game  ani- 
mals into  strategic  territory. 

Within  a  forest  floored  deeply  with  pine-needles,  one  tiny 
ember  from  a  negligently  abandoned  camp  has  more  than 
once  been  the  parent  of  a  subsurface,  incandescent  mass, 
which  days  later  has  a  quarter  of  a  mile  away  gnawed  out 
a  breathing  hole,  and,  tasting  air,  leaped  into  a  holocaust. 

For  a  while  after  the  advent  of  the  early  farmers,  the 
latter  were  employed  to  "run  fire  guards"  yearly  here  and 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  203 

there  in  certain  sections  of  the  Range,  that  is,  to  plough 
two  parallel  sets  of  furrows,  which  were  some  fifty  yards 
apart  and  had  four  furrows  in  each  set.  The  grass  between 
the  sets  was  then  purposely  burned  by  men  who  were  trailed 
by  water-laden  wagons. 

At  rare  intervals,  a  cyclone  whirled  its  way  across  the 
flat  lands,  leaving  in  its  trail  dead  animals,  and  on  either 
side  of  this  trail  living,  crazed  brutes  still  galloping  in  wild 
stampede.  When  such  a  tempest  broke  on  a  driven  band, 
''hell  was  a-popping  and  a-popping  hard^'  for  the  herding 
cowboys.  Wind,  thunder,  and  lightning  in  wholesale  quan- 
tities brought  out  the  hardest  sort  of  riding  before  the  sur- 
vivors from  the  punchers'  maddened  wards  could  be  headed 
back  into  orderly  formation. 

The  cyclone's  prelude  was  awesome.  Its  arrival  was 
terrific.  A  sky  of  inky  blackness  suddenly  in  one  quarter 
suffused  with  tones  of  copper  and  dark  green.  Whatever 
wind  had  been  blowing  ceased,  and  there  fell  a  silence, 
death-like  save  for  the  nervous  lowing  of  the  cattle  and  the 
subdued  conferring  of  the  men.  Presently  from  the  sky 
came  a  long-drawn  moan;  and  next,  with  a  roar,  a  screw- 
ing, lightning-capped  funnel,  point  down,  fined  with  dust, 
bushes,  and  trees,  rushed  out  of  the  copper  and  green,  and 
tore  across  ''the  flat." 

The  punchers,  with  but  seconds  in  which  to  act,  strove  to 
guess  the  funnel's  prospective  course  and  to  throw  the  cattle 
from  it  and,  if  possible,  into  protecting  gulUes.  Despite 
the  limited  time,  there  was  some  opportunity  for  manoeu- 
vring, because  the  funnel  was  usually  of  comparatively  small 
diameter,  a  few  hundred  yards  at  the  most.  Moreover,  it 
occasionally  would  "hang,"  which  is  to  say,  would,  for  a 
moment  or  two,  slow  or  even  halt  its  forward  progress, 
though  still  maintaining  its  dervish  whirl.  Then,  too,  the 
awful  contrivance  might  have  the  decency  now  and  then 
to  "skip,"  "lift,"  or  "raise,"  that  is,  for  a  while  to  retract 


204  THE  COWBOY 

its  tip  from  contact  with  the  earth,  and  thus  to  sail  along 
harmlessly  until  the  tip  again  dabbed  down  to  earth  and 
resumed  its  murdering. 

The  funnel,  as  though  repentant  of  all  this  generosity, 
would  on  occasion  make  frequent  and  erratic  changes  in 
its  course,  and  stab  in  unexpected  places. 

The  hurrying  punchers  clung  to  the  fleeing  cattle  until 
the  last  possible  instant,  then  spun  their  horses  into  facing 
the  storm,  leaned  flat  upon  their  animals'  necks  and,  at 
topmost  speed,  smashed  headlong  through  the  thin  but 
seemingly  solid  wall  of  wind  that  flanked  the  cyclone's  funnel 
upon  its  right  and  left.  It  was  not  a  comfortable  impact. 
It  savored  of  colliding  with  a  pile  of  bricks. 

Taken  sideways  by  the  wall  of  wind  might  mean  a  horse 
blown  over.  Taken  in  any  position  by  the  funnel  almost 
surely  meant  death. 

Reputable  witnesses  have  in  seriousness  reported  cattle 
and  horses  as  picked  up  and  carried  more  than  a  quarter 
of  a  mile  through  the  air  before  nature  tired  of  her  play- 
things and  dropped  them. 

Other  men,  equally  reputable,  have  with  less  seriousness 
given  other  details.  Johnny  Nealan,  a  much-respected 
rancher  of  Oregon's  John  Day  country,  recounted  that  he, 
when  lifted  from  the  ground  by  the  wind,  had  in  his  hand 
a  twenty-dollar  gold  coin,  but  that,  before  he  returned  to 
the  earth,  the  money  had  been  blown  into  two  fifty-cent- 
pieces  and  one  plugged  nickel. 

Snuffles  Jones  solemnly  averred  that  a  certain  Kansan 
tornado  had  swept  all  the  earth  away  from  around  the  bad- 
ger holes,  and  left  these  holes  sticking  up  into  the  air. 
Asked  how  he  could  have  seen  them,  he  retorted:  '^ Didn't 
see  'em.    Ran  into  'em." 

However,  the  cyclone  had  unpleasant  elements  in  addi- 
tion to  that  of  wind. 

Vivid  hghtning,  tossing  itself  about  with  constant  flash, 


THE  DAY^S  WORK  205 

and  just  above  a  treeless  plain,  was  in  no  way  soporific  to 
rain-soaked  men  astride  of  rain-soaked  horses. 

After  each  particularly  blinding  streak  and  the  crash  of 
its  thunder,  at  least  one  dripping  puncher  saucily  would 
implore  nature  to  '^ raise  your  sights,  raise  'em  a  lot,"  and 
thereby  far  to  overshoot  him.  Though  not  affirmatively 
afraid,  the  puncher  sometimes  had  a  sneaking  suspicion 
that  his  invocation  might  not  be  heeded,  because,  as  a  rider 
from  Billings,  Montana,  once  observed:  "Nature  is  a  skittish 
beast  and  no  ways  bridlewise."  Occasionally,  to  sustain 
good-nature  amid  a  huddled,  physically  uncomfortable 
group  of  men,  one  of  the  group  would  resort  to  blithesome 
fooUshness.  Thus  the  rigmarole  "She  loves  me,  she  loves 
!  me  not "  was  in  more  than  one  instance  used  to  count  ofif 
recurrent  streaks  of  awesome  hghtning,  just  as  that  same 
rigmarole,  at  another  time,  followed  the  drone  and  spang 
of  Indian  bullets  which  were  arriving  successively  and  with 
unpleasant  neighborliness. 

On  still  another  occasion  three  ambushed  punchers  took 
to  cover.  Their  range  presently  was  found,  and  dust  began 
to  spurt  aroimd  them.  The  bullets,  coming  with  the  cres- 
cendo, acid  whine  that  sometimes  they  affect,  produced 
no  conament  beyond  "Merskeeters  is  gettin'  thick." 

Winter  brought  hard  work  upon  cold  ranges.  Though 
the  tasks  were  few  in  kind,  they  were  strenuous  in  perform- 
ance. Inspection  trips  with  the  thermometer  at  forty  de- 
grees below  zero,  night-herding  under  like  conditions  were 
not  amusing,  but  the  stock  had  to  be  guarded,  however 
loosely,  night  and  day. 

Upon  a  large  ranch  the  work  was  performed  in  part  by , 
punchers  operating  from  the  main  buildings,  in  part  by 
punchers  who,  stationed  in  far-off  outpost  cabins,  so-called 
"line  camps,"  patrolled  as  "line  riders"  prescribed  bounda- 
ries. These  men  were  interchangeably  called  "Une  riders" 
or  "outriders,"  though,  strictly  speaking,  a  "line  rider"  had 


206  THE  COWBOY 

a  regular  beat,  while  an  ^'outrider"  was  commissioned  to 
roam  anywhere. 

Effort  was  made  to  minimize  the  duration  of  continuous 
work,  and  the  men  served,  so  far  as  possible,  m  shifts  each 
of  twelve  hours.  But  the  West  stuck  to  its  job  until  the 
latter  was  done,  and  never  quit  at  any  mere  clock  strike, 
as  do  adherents  of  the  modern  eight-hour  principle. 

The  riders  had  always  to  know  where  grass  was  plentiful 
and  the  snow  above  it  reasonably  shallow,  and  constantly 
to  keep  their  wards  shepherded  within  such  happy  terri- 
tory, for  the  animals*  only  food  was  the  grass,  and  they 
could  reach  it  solely  by  pawing  through  the  snow.  Horses 
could  obtain  their  provender  through  even  four  feet  of  cover- 
ing, if  the  latter  were  powdery;  but  let  an  ice  crust  form, 
and  the  story  would  be  very  different.  A  thaw,  immedi- 
ately followed  by  a  freeze,  spelled  disaster  on  the  Range. 

Even  in  snowless  stretches  danger  lurked,  for  rain,  prompt- 
ly succeeded  by  tremendous  drop  in  temperature,  turned  each 
grass  blade  into  an  icicle  so  armored  that  the  hve  stock 
could  not  eat  it. 

The  winds  however  cold  were  friendly  to  the  stock  in 
that  they  swept  away  the  snow  from  wide  stretches  of  graz- 
ing-ground. 

In  the  Far  Northwest  blew  a  specially  amiable  wind, 
the  Chinook,  born  above  the  warm  current  of  the  Pacific 
Ocean,  and  intermittently  coming  to  save  the  Range  in 
its  hour  of  peril.  In  the  early  morning  one  saw  the  moun- 
tains dazzlingly  white,  the  lowlands  spread  with  snow; 
then  came  advance  couriers  in  little  puffs  of  air,  and  next 
the  wind  itself.  The  stout  air-current  wiped  the  white  from 
the  hillsides  as  a  handkerchief  clears  a  perspiring  forehead, 
and  freed  the  plains  from  their  murderous  covering.  The 
transaction  was  so  rapid  that  the  snow  did  not  seem  to  melt. 
One  moment  it  was  visible,  the  next  it  had  gone. 

Although  during  the  winter  the  horse  herd  pretty  well 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  207 

could  take  charge  of  itself  and  needed  little  guidance,  the 
cattle  throughout  that  period  were  a  constant  care. 

When  snow  fell  the  cattle  frequently  lacked  initiative 
to  search  for  food.  Bothered  by  the  wind,  they  at  times 
left  the  hillsides,  where  the  grass  was  within  pawing  reach, 
and  sifted  to  the  valleys'  bottoms,  where  the  drift-covered 
forage  would  have  been  insufficient  for  the  many  brutes 
even  if  they  could  have  reached  it. 

One  of  them,  becoming  thirsty,  started  for  a  hole  in  the 
ice  formed  upon  the  waters  of  a  lake.  The  other  animals 
mechanically  followed.  Ton  after  ton  of  weight  stupidly, 
uselessly  moved  out  from  solid  shore  and  the  inevitable 
happened — loud,  cracking  sounds,  wild  bellowings,  tumul- 
tuous splashings,  and  then  new  ice,  marred  here  and  there 
by  a  projecting  horn  or  tail. 

Upon  sign  of  an  impending  storm,  were  it  day  or  were 
it  night,  off  went  the  riders  to  hustle  their  charges  behind 
the  protection  of  trees  or  projecting  rocks,  or  else  into  val- 
leys or  swales,  which,  at  right-angles  to  the  blast's  promised 
track,  were  less  Hkely  to  be  buried  deep  in  snow  and,  above 
all,  to  keep  the  stock  from  '^drifting." 

Throughout  the  winter,  numbed,  ice-clad  men  sat  night 
and  day  atop  exhausted  horses,  fighting  the  tempest,  were 
it  Texan  '^ norther,"  or  Northern  ^'bhzzard,"  that  ''away 
back  East"  might  eat  roast-beef  and  ride  in  street-cars. 
For  such  a  life  the  maximum  monthly  wage  in  the  decade 
of  the  eighties  was  for  a  first-class  or  'Hop"  rider  forty  dol- 
lars, with  ten  to  forty  dollars  additional  if  he  were  a  com- 
petent ranch  foreman;  for  a  rider  of  less  than  top  rating 
twenty-five  dollars  and  upward;  in  each  case  with  board 
and  lodging  free.  Of  course,  there  were  exceptions,  and 
some  of  the  large  ranches  paid  monthly  as  much  as  two 
hundred  dollars  to  an  able  foreman. 

The  "drift"  was  often  tragic  for  both  the  animals  and 
their  owners.     It  might  send  to  death  practically  all  the 


208  THE  COWBOY 

cattle  of  a  range.  Cattle  were  its  usual  prey,  for  horses 
almost  always  had  sense  sufficient  to  avoid  it,  and  to  find 
shelter  for  themselves. 

The  drift  was  the  hve  stock's  marching  in  wholesale  num- 
bers away  from  a  particular  locality,  either  to  avoid  the 
local  conditions  or  to  seek  better  conditions  elsewhere. 
Deep  snows  having  covered  the  grasses,  the  discouraged 
cattle  would  assemble  just  as  they  did  for  the  already  de- 
scribed, unintentional  drownings  in  a  lake,  would  suddenly 
in  compact  formation  begin  their  trek  toward  their  self- 
selected,  unknown  land  of  promise. 

Were  the  weather  not  stormy,  the  beasts  would  march 
along  for  miles  and  until  stopped  by  some  insurmountable 
obstacle,  all  the  way  unwittingly  bettering  themselves  by 
ploughing  a  wide  cut  through  the  snows.  Stopped  by  the 
obstacle,  whatever  it  was — a  hill,  a  canyon,  or  aught  else — 
the  beasts  would  about  face,  and,  retracing  their  former 
trail,  would  browse  their  way  along  its  partly  cleared  bot- 
tom and  back  to  their  starting-point. 

But  stormy  weather  might  produce  a  very  different  re- 
sult. A  bunch  of  cattle  were  pawing  through  the  snow  and 
eating  their  hard-earned  ration,  when  a  storm  broke  upon 
them.  As  the  air  became  filled  with  bHnding  flakes  and 
the  kilHng  wind  increased,  the  beasts  uneasily  stirred  about, 
then,  seeking  protection,  huddled  themselves  into  a  compact 
mass.  With  the  water  from  their  eyes  freezing,  with  long 
icicles  hanging  from  their  hps,  with  their  backs  rime-coated, 
they  stood,  head  down,  moaning,  hopeless.  Abruptly,  in 
sodden  despair,  with  brain  entirely  dormant  but  muscles 
automatically  working,  some  forceful  steer  started  down  to 
leeward,  and  behind  him,  in  Hke  condition,  straggled  the 
staggering  herd.  Each  animal,  keeping  true  to  the  wind's 
course,  fought  on  till  the  animal  dropped;  and  where  it 
dropped  it  died. 

The  numbed  brutes  fell  one  by  one,  first  the  weaker 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  209 

calves,  then  the  stronger  calves,  each  little  tumbling  body 
causing  its  attendant,  anxious  mother  to  stop  and  wait  and 
perish  beside  a  diminutive  mound  of  snow.  Next  toppled 
the  weaker  steers,  then  the  more  virile  animals,  until  the 
final  sacrifice  appeared  in  the  frozen  bodies  of  some  grand 
bovine  monsters,  lying  piled  before  the  impassable  barrier 
of  a  high  snow-drift,  a  deep  cut,  or  a  rocky  wall. 

Material  was  plentiful  for  the  skinning  knives  and  for 
the  birds  and  beasts  of  prey. 

Could  mounted  cowboys,  like  a  flying  wedge,  have 
plunged  their  horses  into  the  mass  before  the  leading  steer 
began  the  hypnotic  march  to  death,  the  herd  might  have 
been  driven  to  safe  cover;  but,  once  the  fatal  procession 
started,  the  doomed  animals  would  obey  no  order  except 
the  summons  to  destruction  and,  in  the  frenzy  of  hopeless- 
ness, would  savagely  attack  whoever  sought  to  rescue  them. 
'* Might  have  been  driven  to  safe  cover,''  but  not  assuredly. 
Many  a  puncher  has  galloped  into  a  ^' drift,"  and,  exhausted 
by  his  futile  efforts,  perished  with  the  beasts  he  tried  to 
save. 

A  *' drift"  might  occur  in  summer  weather  and  be  the 
aftermath  of  a  stampede  or  the  result  of  drought-made 
scantiness  in  local  drink  or  herbage,  but  such  a  drift  would 
mean  no  more  than  that  a  group  of  cattle  had  wandered 
far  afield.    It  had  no  terrors. 

In  snowy  weather  the  punchers  had  also  to  keep  the 
stupid  cattle  from  self-immurement  in  '^box  canyons," 
which  were  gorges  with  but  a  single  open  end,  the  inner 
terminal  being  against  a  wall  of  rock  within  the  mountain's 
mass.  A  high  snow-pile  across  the  entrance  might  insure 
starvation  for  all  hoofed  beasts  within  the  prison. 

Even  when  unhampered  by  any  responsibility,  mere 
facing  of  the  bUzzard  offered  sometimes  to  the  cowboy  a 
very  material  hazard.  More  than  one  man,  leaving  his 
door  for  the  purpose  of  obtaining  wood  from  a  pile  fifty 


\> 


210  THE  COWBOY 

feet  away,  has  been  so  confused  and  blinded  by  the  shriek- 
ing wind  and  the  hissing,  stinging  snow  as  to  lose  all  sense 
of  direction,  and,  devitahzed  by  aimless,  unsuccessful 
searches  for  some  familiar  object,  has  wandered  down  to 
leeward,  the  course  instinctively  adopted  by  all  storm- 
numbed  wayfarers  when  headed  for  the  grave.  To  leeward 
was  whither  rescue  parties  first  gave  attention  in  their  sad 
search  across  a  waste  of  snow. 

In  particularly  storm-swept  areas,  occasional  prudent 
men,  before  plunging  from  their  house-doors  into  the  flake- 
filled  air,  tied  one  end  of  a  rope  to  the  door-jamb,  and,  as 
they  went  forth,  held  grimly  onto  the  other  end  of  that 
bit  of  saving  hemp. 

In  the  open  stretches  of  the  colder  sections  of  the  coun- 
try, there  would  form  crust,  often  strong  enough  to  support 
a  bronco,  sometimes  even  a  wagon  with  its  draft  teams. 
Over  such  a  surface  ponies  with  sharpened  shoe  calks  could 
be  ridden  with  impunity;  but,  under  average  wintry  con- 
ditions, the  local  riders  were  compelled  to  do  considerable 
navigating  in  order  to  avoid  soft  drifts  and  deceptive,  snow- 
filled  hollows. 

At  times  horses  were  useless,  and  for  locomotion  the  men 
ere  restricted  to  the  ski.  This  form  of  snow-shoe  was 
carried  into  the  West  by  the  Scandinavian  hnemen  whom 
the  telegraph  companies  employed. 

While  at  times  horses  were  useless,  such  times  were  few, 
for,  broadly  speaking,  the  bronco  could  go  anywhere  that 
a  man  could,  save  only  where  the  latter  in  climbing  was 
forced  to  use  his  hands,  and  save  only  where  bog  covering 
or  ice  too  frail  for  the  horse's  weight  would  yet  support 
the  Hghter  human  being.  Up  or  down  dizzy,  trailless 
heights,  over  rocks  or  snow,  the  wiry,  sure-footed  cayuse 
would  pick  its  way  and  carry  its  rider,  occasionally  paus- 
ing at  some  turn  to  gaze  with  nonchalant  curiosity  into  the 
valley  a  thousand  feet  almost  vertically  below. 


THE  DAY^S  WORK  211 

When  descending  particularly  steep  and  dangerous  slopes, 
some  animals  sat  on  their  haunches,  and,  stiff-kneed,  using 
their  front  feet  as  both  rudders  and  brakes,  contortingly 
shd  themselves  along.  To  a  tenderfoot  such  an  approach 
to  a  canyon's  rim  was  decidedly  nerve-racking. 

Upon  ascents  however  steep,  the  cowboy  usually  remained 
in  the  saddle  and,  leaning  far  forward  over  the  neck  of  his 
horse,  aided  the  enterprise  by  a  series  of  violent  forward 
swings,  each  in  time  with  one  of  the  horse's  upward 
lunges. 

Nevertheless,  upon  long  up  grades  over  shifting  gravel 
or  soft  snow,  the  puncher  might  dismoimt,  and,  by  seizing 
the  end  of  his  animal's  tail,  obtain  a  powerful  tow-hne. 
Prudent  users  of  this  tractive  method  cast  loose  just  before 
the  steed  passed  over  the  summit,  for  a  horizontal  bronco 
and  a  human  head  on  a  level  with  the  beast's  heels  might 
prove  an  irresistible  combination.  On  the  up-hill  journey 
the  towed  puncher  was  free  from  danger,  since  he  was  be- 
low his  beast's  kicking  plane. 

An  open  winter  made  life  physically  comfortable;  but 
it  caused  worry  about  prospective  drought,  because  sum- 
mer's waters  came  largely  from  the  melting  of  the  previous 
winter's  snows. 

The  subject  of  ice  and  snow  suggests  what  has  amazed 
many  an  Easterner,  the  bronco's  ability  safely  to  drink  the 
coldest  water.  A  ridden  horse  in  a  lather  of  sweat  would 
fairly  fill  himself  at  a  semifrozen  stream,  and  afterward 
happily  go  on  about  his  business.  He  never  had  hved  in- 
doors, never  had  been  blanketed,  and  so  he  had  no  fear  of 
being  foundered  or  of  catching  cold  from  drafts  of  air. 

Incidentally,  he  never  had  been  groomed  by  any  man. 
Whatever  person  had  touched  a  bronco  with  currycomb  and 
brush  would  have  had  immediate  use  for  a  tombstone. 

The  Western  horse  groomed  himself.  He  would  roll  in 
the  dust  and  the  bimch-grass,  would  shake  himself,  and,  if 


212  THE  COWBOY 

in  good  physical  condition,  would  thereafter  shine  as  though 
hostlers  had  rubbed  and  waxed  him. 

This  lack  of  acquaintance  with  currycombs  was  no  more 
marked  than  was  the  absence  of  all  familiarity  with  oats. 
Many  a  pilgrim,  at  the  outset  of  his  initial  Western  visit 
and  with  best  of  intentions,  has  poured  oats  onto  a  bit  of 
canvas,  and  has  led  his  pony  up  to  what  humanly  was 
planned  to  be  an  equine  feast.  A  few  suspicious  glances 
would  be  followed  by  an  inquisitive  sniff  or  two,  by  an  in- 
halation that  drew  some  prickly  oat-grains  up  the  pony's 
nose,  by  a  strenuous  and  disgusted  snort,  and  by  a  shower 
of  oats.  The  c^iiical  httle  cow-horse,  knowing  whence  his 
saddle  came,  had  small  confidence  in  anything  else  man 
offered  him. 

There  has  been  mentioned,  as  being  one  of  the  puncher's 
functions,  the  laying  of  poisoned  baits  for  wolves.  The 
cowboy  was  reUed  upon  for  this  service  only  when  the  ani- 
mals were  not  uncomfortably  numerous;  as  soon  as  in  any 
locahty  they  materially  increased  in  number,  and  their 
toll  of  murdered  calves  and  colts  became  unduly  large,  there 
was  temporarily  hired  a  ^'wolfer."  He  was  a  professional 
killer  of  wolves;  was  a  man  usually  very  ^' sot"  in  his  ways, 
and  who,  by  instinct  or  training,  could  outwit  the  ''var- 
mints "  and  cause  them  to  walk  into  traps  or  to  eat  mortif- 
erous  meats  when  none  of  the  ranch  staff  could  entice  them 
to  do  more  than  emit  derisive  howls.  The  wolfer  had  the 
uncanny  habit  of  stuffing  his  loose  tobacco  and  cigarette 
papers  into  the  very  pocket  that  contained  a  pound  of  un- 
wrapped strychnine  crystals,  of  smoking  all  day  long,  and 
of  being  well  at  supper-time. 

Some  ranches  maintained  packs  of  dogs  for  the  purpose 
of  wolfing;  though  the  majority  of  cattlemen,  doubting 
the  hounds'  wilhngness  to  spare  the  five  stock's  young  when 
the  wild  animal  was  absent,  and  also  realizing  that,  should 
the  dogs,  unattended,  wander  from  home  the  brutes  might 


THE  DAY'S  WORK  213 

be  shot,  preferred  wolves  to  a  Range  war,  and  accordingly 
forewent  canine  protection. 

The  wolves  throughout  the  Range  did  not  begin  whole- 
sale eating  of  calves  and  colts  until  after  the  buffalo  with 
its  calf  had  passed  into  history,  or,  more  definitely  speaking, 
into  sleigh-robes  and  fur  coats,  and  into  the  stomachs  of 
the  men  who  built  the  Union  Pacific  and  Northern  Pacific 
railways. 

The  Western  railroads,  through  their  cattle  trains,  en- 
abled ranching  to  become  a  national  industry;  thereafter, 
through  their  eating  buffalo,  unloosed  the  wolves  against 
the  commercial  live  stock;  and  finally,  through  their  wheat 
cars,  took  the  farmer  westward  and  enabled  him  to  slay 
the  Range. 

The  wolves  fell  into  two  classes,  one,  a  small  animal,  the 
coyote  or  cayote,  popularly  known  as  ^'kiote,"  the  other  a 
large  beast  which,  without  regard  to  possible  scientific  sub- 
division, interchangeably  was  called  ^'timber-wolf,"  ''gray 
wolf,"  "big  gray,"  "buffalo  wolf,"  "traveller,"  "loper," 
"loafer,"  "lofer,"  "lobo,"  or  else  "wolf,"  with  any  one  of 
the  last-mentioned  five  words  as  a  prefix,  as,  for  instance, 
"lobo  wolf." 

The  lobos  were  often  very  hard  to  capture;  particularly 
when  in  rare  instances  they  added  to  their  own  extraor- 
dinary sagacity  the  cunning  of  a  pair  of  coyotes  which  had 
attached  themselves  to  the  great  wolf's  presence,  and,  as 
sycophantic  pages  in  waiting,  accompanied  him  on  all  his 
travels,  and  scouted  one  on  either  side  of  him. 


CHAPTER  XI 
LIVE  STOCK 

HABITS  OF  LIVE  STOCK  ON  RANGE — VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS — GROUND-UP — 
ITS  SCOPE,  METHODS,  AND  DATE — CLASSIFICATION  OF  CATTLE — FURTHER 
DEFINITIONS — PREPARATIONS  FOR  ROUND-UP — ITS  CONDUCT — "CUTTING 
OUT  " — "  PEG  PONY  " — ROPING — SNUBBING — VARIOUS  DEFINITIONS 

The  stock,  turned  loose  upon  the  Range  and  able  to  wan- 
der whither  it  would,  and  that  is  what  happened  to  all  of 
it,  assembled  itself  through  process  of  natural  selection 
into  small  groups  widely  separated  from  each  other  and 
each  headed  by  a  dominant  leader.  There  were  here  and 
there,  as  exceptions,  individual  animals,  which  as  Ishmael- 
ites  Hved  a  soUtary  hfe  and  ranged  alone.  All  the  beasts, 
whether  in  groups  or  out  of  them,  were  in  instinct  and  habit 
almost  as  wild  as  the  deer. 

The  average  group  of  horses  contained  from  ten  to  fif- 
teen animals,  very  rarely  more  than  fifty  of  them,  and 
tended  to  remain  in  compact  formation.  The  average  group 
of  cattle  had  a  smaller  membership  and,  particularly  when 
pursued,  was  less  cohesive.  Each  group,  whether  of  horses 
or  of  cattle,  and  each  Ishmaelite,  pre-empted  for  itself  a 
particular  section  of  the  feeding-grounds,  and  thus  the 
entire  Range  was  subdivided  into  tiny  equine  or  bovine 
principahties. 

Each  group  commonly  was  called,  according  to  the  na- 
ture of  its  component  animals,  a  '^band  of  horses  "  or  a 
'^ bunch  of  cattle,^'  though  this  distinction  between  ^^band^' 
and  '^bimch  "  was  not  always  made.  For  purpose  of  com- 
bination with  either  of  the  two  terms  ^ '  stock '^  and  *'hve 
stock,"  *^ bunch  "  was  by  tacit  consent  the  correct  word, 

214 


LIVE  STOCK  215 

and  not  ''band."    Thus  a  ''bunch  of  stock,"  not  a  "band" 
of  it. 

Because  of  the  usual  sparseness  of  the  live  stock,  the 
Range  was  to  tenderfoot  eyes  on  most  days  a  lonely-looking 
area;  but  semiannually  the  picture  would  for  a  short  time 
completely  change,  and  show  the  great  herds  of  the  round- 
ups and  of  the  drives. 

Regularly  in  the  spring  and  again  in  either  the  late  sum- . 
mer  or  early  fall,  as  also  at  any  other  time  that  special  cause 
required,  there  was  held  a  so-called  "round-up,"  or,  as  it^--^^ 
was  termed  on  the  Mexican  border,  a  "rodeo." 

A  round-up  attempted  to  herd  to  a  single  point  all  ani- 
mals within  the  territory  over  which  the  operation  extended. 

Little  escaped  its  mesh,  though  occasional  animals, 
through  accidental  screening  or  intentional  hiding  in  boul- 
der fields  or  clumps  of  trees,  might  elude  the  trap  for  several 
successive  years.  "Man-killing"  horses  traditionally  were 
past  masters  at  thus  concealing  themselves. 

The  round-up  might  cover  only  such  lands  as  were  apt 
to  be  grazed  by  the  animals  of  a  particular  ranch ;  and,  if  / 
so,  was  conducted  primarily  in  the  interest  of  that  ranch,  ^'•---• 
although  other  ranches  benefited  to  the  extent  that  stock 
belonging  to  them  turned  up  in  the  shuffle.  Or  it  might 
embrace  the  several  feeding-grounds  separately  used  by  a 
number  of  ranches,  and  in  such  case  was  principally  for 
the  advantage  of  the  ranches  thus  immediately  interested, 
though,  as  before,  distant  owners  of  visiting  animals  profited 
through  the  unearthing  of  their  errant  stock. 

The  extent  of  the  tract  thus  to  be  combed  over  was  deter- 
mined by  conditions.  It  might  be  an  entire  valley,  or  the 
lands  this  side  of  a  desert,  or  the  space  between  two  con- 
verging rivers,  or,  in  default  of  natural  boundaries,  merely 
such  particular  square  miles  as  in  all  probability  would 
contain  all  the  interested  owners'  animals  inclusive  of  those 
with  a  touch  of  wanderlust.    Although  in  later  years  Wy- 


216  THE  COWBOY 

oming  by  formal  law  divided  itself  into  definite  "round-up 
districts/'  which  severally  averaged  about  two  and  a  half 
million  acres,  the  exact  field  of  any  operation  in  Wyoming 
continued  to  be  determined,  as  in  other  States,  by  the  people 
of  the  operation's  locahty.  The  size  of  the  tract  to  be  cov- 
ered, the  number  of  the  ranches  financially  concerned  were 
fixed  automatically  by  the  situs  and  quantity  of  the  local 
water-supplies,  for  water  regulated  the  extent  and  owner- 
ship of  the  stock  on  every  range. 

Frequently  only  part  of  a  large  range  was  "worked"  on 
a  single  day,  the  entire  task  being  done  in  instalments. 
In  such  a  case  the  field  of  each  such  instalment  was  fixed, 
as  in  the  instance  of  the  round-up  as  a  whole,  either  by  na- 
ture-made limits  or  by  mere  square  mileage.  Each  such 
instalment's  field  might  have  its  own  point  at  which  to 
concentrate  that  field's  yield  of  five  stock,  or  several  of  such 
fields  might  use  in  common  one  such  point. 

The  number  of  animals  picked  up  in  a  day's  operation 
might  be  ten  thousand.  It  might  be  only  fifteen  hundred. 
In  a  "Httle"  country,  it  might  be  even  less. 

All  the  ranches  directly  interested,  called  upon  by  cus- 
tom to  contribute  men  in  numbers  proportionate  to  the 
extent  of  the  interest,  actually  threw  into  the  adventure 
their  entire  active  personnel;  while,  from  distant  ranges, 
appeared  volunteers,  the  latter  realizing  that  their  services 
would  be  repaid  in  kind  when  their  own  home  round-ups 
should  occur. 

The  men  participating  in  the  affair  elected  from  among 
themselves  the  various  necessary  leaders,  these  being  the 
"round-up  boss,"  the  "tally  man,"  etc. 

Twice  a  year  the  West  climbed  into  the  saddle,  and  a 
hiunan  drag-net  in  intermittent  motion  swept  all  of  the  area 
bounded  by  the  Missouri  River,  the  Sierra  Nevadas, 
Canada,  and  the  Mexican  border. 

These  doings  permitted  the  stockmen  to  ascertain  the 


LIVE  STOCK  217 

extent  of  their  possessions  and  to  compute  their  financial 
gains  or  losses,  to  impound  the  beasts  desirable  for  sale, 
to  register  marks  of  ownership  upon  the  animals  that  were 
to  resume  their  nomad  life,  and  to  gather  in  strays  that 
had  wandered  far  afield. 

The  *' spring  round-up,"  which  was  primarily  for  the 
purpose  of  branding  and  thus  among  cattle-raisers  was 
often  called  the  ^'calf  round-up,"  occurred  after  the  vernal 
grass  had  come,  and  took  place  in  March  throughout  the 
South  and  on  correspondingly  later  dates  in  the  more 
northern  latitudes.  Because  of  the  time  of  its  happening, 
it  yielded  no  cattle  for  the  market,  though  on  the  horse 
range  it  produced,  as  did  every  round-up  there,  horses 
available  for  sale.  This  spring  herding  provoked  much 
discussion  of  stock  that  ^^had  not  wintered  well,"  and  of 
'^dogies,"  or  ^^dobes,"  these  last  being  calves  or  yearling 
cattle  that  were  still  scrubby  and  anaemic  from  the  scant 
food  of  the  cold  months. 

The  next  regular  round-up,  the  so-called  ''fall"  one,  took 
place  in  Texas  in  August  or  late  July,  and  moved  its  date 
later  into  the  calendar  in  accord  with  the  farther  northing 
of  its  scene. 

This  latter  round-up  gave  forth  kine  fat  for  the  abattoir, 
sleek  cows,  and  heavy  steers.  It  frequently  was  termed  on 
a  cattle  range  the  ''beef  round-up,"  although  technically 
a  "beef"  was  only  such  a  beast  as  was  both  four  or  more 
years  of  age  and  also  not  a  bull.  As  a  matter  of  fact,  most 
of  the  animals  sold  to  the  packers  were  "beeves";  but, 
because  weight  rather  than  age  was  the  controlling  factor, 
large  younger  animals  often  were  included  in  the  proces- 
sion headed  for  the  slaughter-house. 

An  animal  of  the  cattle  family,  whatever  its  sex,  was 
born  a  "calf."  If  a  male  and  reserved  for  breeding  pur- 
poses, the  brute  later  became  successively  a  "yearling  bull," 
a  "two-year-old  bull,"  a  "three-year-old  bull,"  a  "four- 


218  THE  COWBOY 

year-old  bull,"  etc;  but,  if  not  so  reserved,  he,  at  the  end 
of  his  first  year,  passed  into  the  class  of  '^yearling,"  to  re- 
main therein  for  twelve  months,  to  be  termed,  for  the 
two  successive  years  immediately  thereafter,  a  ''steer,"  and 
then  to  become  a  ''beef."  But  if  the  beast  were  a  female, 
she  at  the  end  of  her  one  year's  calfdom,  became  a 
"heifer,"  a  "yearling,"  or  a  "young  cow,"  according  as 
her  biographer  happened  arbitrarily  to  entitle  her.  After 
she  successively  had  served  as  a  "two-year-old  cow."  and 
a  "three-year-old  cow,"  and  meanwhile  had  by  whoever 
wished  to  flatter  her  still  been  called  from  time  to  time  a 
"heifer,"  she  was  promoted  into  the  "beef"  grade,  wherein, 
with  no  regard  for  feminine  susceptibihties,  her  age  was 
blatantly  advertised. 

The  West,  despite  its  creating  of  all  these  technical  dis- 
tinctions, was  quite  apt,  when  speaking  colloquially,  to 
use  the  word  "cow"  as  a  synonym  for  the  word  "cattle," 
and  thus  not  only  the  "bunch  of  cows,"  which  the  Wester- 
ner reported  as  in  the  distance,  might  in  fact  contain  merely 
steers,  but  also  he  was  very  apt  to  call  a  cattle  ranch  a  *'  cow 
ranch."  Nevertheless,  he  never  termed  the  Range  a  "cow 
Range,"  or  the  Cattle  Country  a  "cow  country." 

The  corrals  used  for  a  round-up  were  often  far  distant 
from  the  ranch  buildings,  and  then  "chuck  wagons,"  as 
mess  wagons  were  called,  took  aboard  their  cooking 
outfits  and  food  supphes,  and  rumbled  out  to  the  work 
place. 

A  chuck  wagon  usually  was  made  by  imposing  at  the 
back  end  of  an  ordinary  farm  wagon  a  large  box  which  con- 
tained shelves  and  had  at  its  rear  a  Hd  that,  hinged  at  the 
bottom  and  armed  with  legs,  made,  when  lowered,  a  service- 
able table.  Some  ranches,  however,  had  wagons  specially 
designed  for  restaurant  use. 

To  the  round-up  corrals,  strings  of  extra  saddle-ponies 
were  driven  by  hostlers  whom  the  Northwest  called  "horse 


LIVE  STOCK  219 

wranglers,"  this  term  being  possibly  a  corruption  of  the 
Mexican^s  ''caverango/^  a  hostler. 

An  unreasonable  distinction,  often  made  in  colloquial 
usage,  caused  these  men  to  ^^ wrangle"  horses  in  daytime, 
and  to  ^'herd"  them  at  night,  although  the  services  ren- 
dered were  identical  in  nature,  merely  a  keeping  of  the 
horses  from  straying  too  far  away,  and  an  ultimate  pro- 
duction of  them  at  the  place  and  time  desired.  This  same 
usage  made  the  men  wrangle  the  horses,  and  not  wrangle 
with  them. 

The  extra  ponies  driven  to  the  round-up  corrals  formed 
an  aggregation  which  the  Northwest  knew  as  the  '^saddle 
band,"  but  which  in  the  Southwest  was  called  by  this  name, 
by  that  of  ^^remuda,"  or  '^remontha"  (this  latter  a  corrup- 
tion of  Spanish  ^'remonta")  and  also  by  that  of  ^'cav- 
vieyah,"  ^'cavoy,"  '^cawoy,"  '^cavy,"  ^^cawy,"  or,  if  the 
dictionary  were  more  closely  followed,  ''caballada,"  ''caval- 
lard,"  ^^cavayard,"  or  '^caviarde."  The  West  reserved 
control  of  its  spellings  and  pronunciations,  and  cared  naught 
that  the  lexicon  gave  the  Westerner's  two-syllabled  ^'ki- 
ote,"  or  ^'kiyote,"  as  the  three  syllabled  ^^co-yot-e." 

The  extra  ponies  were  necessary,  for  the  work  at  the 
rodeo  corrals  was  done  at  so  fast  a  pace  as  to  force  the  cow- 
boys to  frequent  change  of  mounts.  The  average  puncher, 
to  do  his  best  work,  had  to  have  four  horses  resting  while 
one  was  being  ridden. 

Each  of  these  rodeo  corrals  was  of  a  size  sufficient  to  ac- 
commodate whatever  animals  a  combing  of  the  dependent 
territory  might  yield.  Thus,  while  almost  all  of  these  cor- 
rals were  more  extensive  than  those  at  the  ranch-house, 
they,  as  among  themselves,  varied  much  in  area.  Some 
were  very  big.  In  the  more  extensive  structures,  advantage 
often  was  taken  of  whatever  conveniences  nature  had  of- 
fered, and,  instead  of  a  continuous  fence  identical  in  char- 
acter with  that  in  the  ranch-house  corrals,  fencing  of  this 


220  THE  COWBOY 

type  would  merely  piece  in  the  gaps  between  high  piles  of 
rocks,  or  would  spring  from  each  of  two  places  on  a  forest's 
edge  and  leave  the  intervening  space  to  be  guarded  by  hori- 
zontal rails  lashed  to  growing  trees,  or  else  would  do  no 
more  than  run  across  the  open  end  of  a  favoring  ^^box  can- 
yon.'^ 

In  any  event,  each  rodeo  corral  had  an  entrance  which 
was  closable  by  bars,  and,  from  each  side  of  this  entrance, 
flared  out  for  many  feet  ^Ving  fences"  to  shunt  the  edges 
of  the  entering  herd  into  the  break  in  the  pen's  high  bound- 
ary. Connected  with  this  main  enclosure  might  be  sub- 
sidiary ones  which  had  interopening  gates  and  were  thus 
convenient  for  sorting  stock. 

These  preparations  made,  the  round-up  itself  began. 

Horsemen,  widely  separated  in  skirmish  hne,  started 
miles  from  a  designated  corral,  and,  as  ^^ circle  riders,"  con- 
verging on  it,  drove  slowly  before  themselves  everything 
that  moved  on  legs.  The  animals  thus  gradually  herded 
together  would  be,  with  a  few  exceptions,  all  horses  or  all 
cattle,  according  to  what  the  local  ranches  raised. 

The  procession  to  some  extent  was  self-constructive,  for, 
although  the  riders  frequently  had  to  '^ round  in"  isolated 
beasts  or  groups  of  beasts  and  to  urge  them  into  the  driven 
herd,  the  grazing  brutes  would  in  the  main  voluntarily  join 
it.  Stock  quietly  feeding  would  hear  or  scent  the  coming 
procession;  would,  for  a  moment,  gaze  inquisitively  at  it; 
and  then,  obedient  to  the  instinct  of  gregariousness,  would 
trot  across  country  and  fall  into  line. 

The  herding  horsemen  advanced  with  gingerly  slowness, 
fearful  lest  sudden  movement  might  cause  the  quarry  to 
break  and  run;  and,  as  they  gradually  converged,  the  crea- 
tures before  them  melded  into  a  common  herd.  Quietly 
there  moved  in  ahead  of  it  one  rider,  the  '^round-up  boss." 
He  was  the  pacemaker,  the  general  of  the  occasion.  Pos- 
sibly he  had  beside  him  a  lieutenant-general  or  two.    Quietly 


LIVE  STOCK  221 

there  ranged  along  either  side  of  the  herd  and  from  among 
the  circle  riders  a  line  of  flankers,  riders  less  strategic  than 
the  general  in  front  or  than  the  Ueutenant-generals  who 
''rode  tail,"  and  thus  as  "tail  riders''  stayed  behind  the 
herd  and  kept  it  to  the  pace  the  general  from  time  to  time 
might  order. 

Until  the  procession  had  come  so  near  the  corral  that, 
if  walking  were  abandoned,  the  higher  speed  assumed  might 
continue  surely  to  the  end,  the  animals  quietly  were  nursed 
along.  It  was  true  that  they  were  more  Uable  to  break 
while  walking  than  while  moving  at  a  swifter  pace,  for  at 
the  slower  rate  they  had  more  time  to  think.  But  when 
under  the  excitement  of  recent,  rapid  speed  they  were  re- 
duced to  a  walking  pace,  they  were  almost  certain  to  make 
a  "bobble."    Accordingly,  the  men  all  rode  leisurely  along. 

A  beast  shot  out  to  the  side.  If  it  were  a  deer  or  antelope, 
none  of  the  riders  did  more  than  to  hope  that  its  departure 
would  remain  unnoticed  by  its  late  brute  companions.  If 
the  beast  were  a  single  steer  and  the  herd  were  of  horses, 
if  the  beast  were  a  single  horse  and  the  herd  were  of  cattle, 
the  decamping  creature  had  relieved  the  riders  from  the 
prospective  trouble  of  "cutting  it  out'^  after  arrival  at  the 
corral,  so  in  muttered  tone  they  gave  the  quitter  a  profane 
benediction  and  hoped,  as  before,  for  inattention  by  its  for- 
mer comrades.  If  the  fleeing  animal  were  of  the  same  stock 
as  that  of  the  herd,  the  brute  probably  would  be  let  to  go, 
lest  an  effort  to  "head"  it  create  confusion  disturbing  to 
its  crawHng  but  nervous  mates.  But,  in  fact,  numerous 
animals  had  started.  They  had  to  be  headed  at  all  cost, 
for  otherwise  the  entire  aggregation  would  pour  out  through 
the  opening  like  water  through  a  levee's  break.  The  job 
was  accompHshed.  The  men  and  their  charges  quieted 
down  and  plodded  along. 

The  general,  with  one  of  his  eyes  glued  in  his  back,  had 
followed  tensely  every  changing  whim  of  the  beasts  which 


222  THE  COWBOY 

he  had  held  behind  him,  and  from  time  to  time  had  headed 
from  a  forward  dash.  He  sensed  that  the  herd  no  longer 
would  tolerate  quiescence.  He  knew  that  the  corral  was 
not,  in  distance,  beyond  the  breathing  limit  of  more  rapid 
motion.  He  put  his  horse  in  trot.  Rank  by  rank,  the  brute 
platoons  behind  him,  in  quick  succession,  increased  their 
speed. 

Near  the  goal,  with  his  pony  for  days  groomed  for  the 
effort,  the  general  plunged  forward,  followed  by  the  thunder 
of  six  thousand  hoofs  and  by  a  blinding  cloud  of  dust.  The 
wing  fences  showed  in  front.  He  headed  directly  between 
them,  but  an  instant  before  he  otherwise  would  have  reached 
their  limitations  he  '^ whirled''  his  pony,  darted  to  one  side, 
and  was  out  of  the  rush. 

The  insensate,  now  leader  less  brutes  had  no  opportunity 
to  swerve,  and,  like  a  living  avalanche,  rolled  into  the  cor- 
ral, the  pressure  from  the  rear  often  sending  the  forward 
animals  with  horrid  force  against  the  farther  fence.  Occa- 
sionally one  or  more  horses  among  these  forward  animals 
would  wildly  leap,  and,  as  Hghtly  as  a  scaling  card,  would 
sail  over  the  corral's  fence. 

The  ''flank  riders"  also  had  drawn  off  to  the  sides  and 
away  from  the  mess,  and  no  human  was  as  yet  within  the 
corral.  Up  went  the  bars  across  its  entrance;  cookie  and 
his  crew  having  stood  guard  for  this  service. 

Every  horseman  dismounted,  dropped  the  handkerchief 
which  had  been  about  his  nose  and  mouth,  wiped  at  sweat 
and  dust,  said  ''damn,"  and  congratulated  the  general. 
The  latter  had  paced  well  and  deserved  congratulation. 
Nobody,  of  course,  suggested  that,  had  the  general's  horse 
gone  down,  a  man  and  an  animal  would  have  been  ground 
to  pulp.    That  was  axiomatic  and  was  all  in  a  day's  work. 

The  tired  ponies,  for  their  reward,  were  unsaddled  and 
allowed  to  roll  and  delightedly  to  writhe  on  their  backs; 
each  rider  furtively  watching  his  own  steed,  to  see  whether 


LIVE  STOCK  223 

on  its  third  attempt  it  went  completely  over,  and  thus, 
according  to  frontier  diagnosis,  proved  itself  physically- 
sound. 

Where  did  all  this  happen?  Its  scene  and  its  action,  as 
regards  horses,  was  on  any  of  the  principal  horse  ranges 
at  any  time  during  the  life  of  the  horse  industry.  For  a 
smaller  range,  the  number  of  the  corralled  animals  should 
be  decreased.  As  regards  cattle,  the  description  is  subject 
to  a  corresponding  adjustment  in  figures,  and,  for  the  years 
subsequent  to  the  seventies,  must  be  modified  in  certain 
other  details. 

When,  in  the  decade  of  the  seventies,  cattle  customarily 
began  to  sell  by  the  pound  instead  of,  as  theretofore,  by  the 
head,  ranchers  commenced  to  realize  that  with  cattle  rapid 
movement  meant  loss  of  weight,  that  the  fat  which  dripped 
away  in  sweat  was  the  same  as  the  fat  the  packer  would 
have  bought.  Consequently,  cowboys  were  ordered  to  ' 
hold  cattle,  so  far  as  possible,  to  a  walk,  a  result  obtainable 
by  decreasing  the  number  of  beasts  one  man  was  expected 
to  control. 

Wherefore,  to  make  the  description  accurately  appHcable 
to  the  majority  of  cattle  round-ups  after  the  decade  of  the 
seventies,  one  must  alter  the  above  recital  so  far  as  to  have 
the  five  stock  effect,  at  a  far  slower  pace  than  is  above  de- 
noted, both  the  traversing  of  the  country  and  the  entering 
into  the  corral. 

And,  for  certain  sections  of  the  Range  during  the  later 
years  of  the  cattle  industry,  one  must  make  the  further 
amendment  of  doing  away  altogether  with  the  corral,  and 
having  the  final  bunching  of  the  cattle  not  within  high  fences 
but  in  an  *'open"  round-up. 

The  selling  by  the  head  or  by  the  pound,  as  mentioned 
above,  relates  to  sales  made  to  the  pubhc.  Ranchmen, 
in  such  transactions  among  themselves  as  involved  a 
rancher's  disposing  of  all  his  live  stock,  sometimes  sold 


224  THE  COWBOY 

''on  range  delivery."  This  meant  that  the  buyer,  after 
inspection  of  the  seller's  ranch  records,  and  with  due  regard 
to  the  seller's  reputation  for  veracity,  paid  for  what  the 
seller  purported  to  own,  and  then  rode  out  and  tried  to  find 
it. 

If  we  cease  these  digressions  and  return  to  the  corral, 
we  shall  find  that  the  men  beside  it  had  scrubbed  at  the 
black  muck  which  sweat-mixed  white  or  gray  alkali  dust 
had  laid  upon  their  faces,  had  gorged  themselves  from  the 
results  of  the  efforts  made  by  cookie  over  his  intrenched 
fire,  and  now  were  about  to  attack  the  second  stage  of  their 
work. 

If  the  corral  were  filled  with  cattle  and  the  season  were 
the  spring,  there  would  be  much  branding  of  calves  to  do, 
but  there  would  be  very  little  dealing  with  the  older  animals 
beyond  sorting  out  and  returning  to  their  owners  such  brutes 
as  were  visitors  from  foreign  ranges.  If  the  corral  were 
filled  with  cattle  and  the  round-up  were  that  of  fall,  while 
there  would  be  scant  necessity  for  branding,  the  older  ani- 
mals would  be  the  principal  subjects  of  the  cowboys'  labors. 

If  the  corral  knew  only  horses,  there  would  be  far  more 
branding  at  the  round-up  of  the  spring  than  at  that  of  the 
autumn;  and,  at  each  of  these  round-ups,  mature  animals 
might  be  gathered  for  the  market. 

But  whatever  the  season  and  whatever  the  kind  of  animal 
involved,  the  punchers  were  now  ready  to  resume  their 
work.  People,  some  outside  the  bars  of  the  corral  and  others 
on  its  top  rail,  prodded  the  imprisoned  animals  back  from 
the  entrance  sufficiently  far  to  permit  lowering  of  the  bars 
and  an  entrance  by  some  of  the  remounted  cowboys. 

These  men's  ponies,  sending  front  knees  high  in  air  but 
taking  mincing  steps,  impatiently  waited  for  an  inkling  as 
to  the  quarry's  identity  and  for  a  raising  of  the  reins,  this 
last  the  signal  for  a  burst  of  speed. 

These   mounted    cowboys,    remaining    ahorse,    wormed 


LIVE  STOCK  225 

through  the  herd,  and  separated  the  animals  for  which  there 
was  no  immediate  need  from  those  which  were  to  be  sold 
or  broken  or  branded,  as  the  case  might  be. 

This  process  involved  ''cutting  out,"  which  means  that 
the  rider,  sighting  an  animal  to  be  segregated,  rode  between 
it  and  the  body  of  the  herd.  The  animal  dodged.  The 
rider  had  barely  commenced  to  guide  his  pony  into  pur- 
suit before  that  knowing  little  devil  sensed  the  entire  situa- 
tion. Highly  trained  to  the  purpose,  hke  a  kitten  following 
a  ball,  he  gleefully,  and  with  Hghtning-like  changes  of 
direction,  began  with  the  quarry  a  game  of  competitive 
dodging.  In  and  out  through  the  herd,  they  twisted  and 
turned.  The  cutting-out  pony,  learned  in  all  the  tricks  of 
the  contest,  eventually  got  the  advantaged  position  for 
which  he  had  schemed;  the  quarry  clear  from  the  herd, 
with  a  panting,  man-laden  imp  in  between. 

The  quarry,  once  clear  from  the  herd,  was  fair  target 
for  the  lariat,  and  also,  if  moving,  might  be  'Hailed." 

Amid  this  whirligig,  the  rider,  if  in  playful  mood,  very 
hkely  kicked  his  foot  free  from  his  stirrup,  and  dug  his  spur 
into  an  animal  galloping  past.  The  pony  under  him,  equally 
joyous,  would  from  time  to  time  slyly  nip  at  passing  beasts. 

When  the  objective  for  the  lariat  was  a  particular  calf 
or  colt,  usually  the  cutting-out  campaign  was  directed  prin- 
cipally against  the  mother;  for  not  only  was  she  needed 
near  the  fire,  that  her  marl^ngs  might  show  what  should 
be  imprinted  on  her  offspring,  but  also  she  was  easier  to 
follow,  and  confidently  could  be  expected  to  sweep  her 
youngster  along  with  her  in  her  rush.  No  matter  how  great 
the  confusion,  the  mother  never  would  mistake  the  identity 
of  her  baby,  although  the  latter  might  fail  to  recognize  its 
parent. 

A  saddle-horse  which  when  galloping  could  stop  short 
in  his  tracks,  change  his  direction  like  a  weather-vane,  and 
instantly  bound  off  on  a  new  course  was  called  a  ''peg 


226  THE  COWBOY 

pony,"  ''peg  horse/'  or  "peggerJ^  He  was  very  dear  to 
his  cowboy  rider,  but  he  '' dumped"  many  a  novice. 

The  animal  recently  cut  out  was  now  to  be  roped. 

The  pursuing  puncher  lifted  his  coiled  lariat  from  its 
home  below  the  saddle's  horn,  his  left  hand  holding,  high 
in  the  air,  such  portion  of  the  rope  as  was  not  to  be  included 
in  the  noose,  that  no  part  of  this  surplus  rope  might,  when 
flying  out,  pass  behind  the  puncher  and  do  damage  to  his 
temper,  if  not  to  his  neck.  The  puncher's  right  hand,  grip- 
ping the  ''hondo,"  paid  out  through  it,  by  a  series  of  short 
jerks  of  the  wrist,  rope  sufficient  for  the  noose. 

When  rope  enough  for  a  circle  of  six  or  seven  feet  in  diam- 
eter had  thus  been  emitted,  the  puncher's  right  hand,  palm 
down  and  twenty  inches  or  so  behind  the  hondo,  grasped 
tightly  both  the  side  of  the  noose  and  also  that  part  of  the 
rope  which  had  not  already  passed  through  the  hondo  and 
thus  become  a  portion  of  the  noose.  Then  the  noose  was 
started  swinging.  By  the  time  that  it  had  made  its  fourth 
revolution,  it  was  in  the  shape  of  an  oval,  was  in  horizontal 
position  over  the  wielder's  head,  and  was  sufficiently  open 
for  the  ^Hhrow." 

Until  the  throw  was  made,  the  noose  was  kept  steadily 
revolving;  but,  an  instant  before  the  throw,  the  noose  was 
for  two  or  three  revolutions  whirled  with  tremendous  speed, 
the  puncher  meanwhile  twisting  his  right  shoulder  back- 
ward and  forcing  his  right  hand  still  further  to  the  rear. 
Then  this  hand  shot  forward  and  released  the  noose.  Forth- 
with the  latter  landed,  as  the  thrower  wished,  either  over 
the  victim's  head  or  else  on  the  ground,  from  the  latter 
target  to  bounce  up  and  catch  whatever  leg  or  legs  of  the 
moving  quarry  the  thrower  had  selected. 

The  lariat  then  was  jerked  to  semitautness,  and  instantly 
was  snubbed  around  the  saddle  horn. 

Coincidently  with  the  ^^ catch,"  the  ridden  pony  stopped 
short,  and  squatted  on  his  haunches,  fairly  sitting  on  the 


LIVE  STOCK  227 

end  of  his  spine.  From  that  instant,  his  eyes  stayed  fixed 
on  the  fallen  victim.  As  the  latter  rolled  one  way  or  the 
other,  the  pony,  with  front  legs  straight  and  braced  stiffly 
before  him,  pivoted  on  his  seat;  and,  moving  his  front  feet  in 
inch-long  side-steps,  sat  facing  ever  squarely  at  the  contents 
of  the  noose.  So  expert  were  some  of  the  ponies,  that  their 
riders  could  dismount  and  leave  the  holding  of  the  roped 
beast  entirely  to  the  management  of  the  sitting  little  horse. 

Sometimes,  just  as  a  lariat  was  to  be  thrown,  a  quarry 
on  the  rider's  right  doubled  in  its  tracks,  and  the  thrower, 
if  of  ability,  instantly  turned  his  right-hand  palm  up,  which 
overset  the  spinning  noose  and  let  a  rearward  snap  of  the 
forearm  make  that  throw  admired  in  the  ^' opera-house," 
the  ^^backthrow,"  on  the  off  side. 

Also,  by  a  similar  oversetting,  the  noose  could  be  brought 
down  from  its  normal  high  level,  and,  by  a  backward  round- 
arm  swing  which  ended  as  the  holding  hand  advanced,  be 
shot  forward  upon  a  plane  quite  near  the  ground. 

If,  when  a  catch  was  made  and  the  reata  came  to  taut- 
ness,  the  roping  pony  were  at  all  sideways  toward  the 
quarry,  over  went  the  pony  and  its  rider  with  a  crash.  Ac- 
cordingly it  was  important,  particularly  when  lariating 
heavy  animals,  that  the  rider  should  make  his  throw  only 
when  either  the  length  of  his  pony's  body  was  in  line  with 
the  direction  of  the  throw,  or  else  his  pony  had  itself  so  well 
in  hand  as  surely  to  be  able  to  spin  into  that  position  be- 
fore the  reata  gave  its  terrific  yank. 

It  was  necessary,  in  deciding  when  to  throw,  to  consider 
the  possible  movement  of  animals  not  directly  concerned 
in  the  matter;  for,  should  one  of  them  rush  between  the 
roping  pony  and  the  caught  victim,  and  the  roper  be  unable 
to  let  go  of  the  lariat,  an  unfortunate  little  mustang  and 
the  man  atop  him  would  be  snapped  heels  over  head. 

If,  as  the  throw  was  made,  the  rider  sensed  that  the  pony 
under  him  would  not  be  in  proper  position  when  the  prospec- 


228  THE  COWBOY 

tive  jerk  should  occur,  the  rider  would  not  snub  his  lariat's 
home  end  to  the  saddle  horn,  but  would  let  the  lariat  hang 
loosely  from  his  hand.  Usually  whatever  beast  had  been 
so  inconveniently  roped  would  soon  shake  off  the  noose; 
but  sometimes,  if  the  catch  had  been  made  outside  of  the 
corral,  a  chagrined  cowboy  would  see  his  reata  trailing 
across  the  prairie  behind  a  galloping  steer.  Such  a  sight 
would  mean  a  tiresome  ride  in  order  to  head  back  the  brute 
with  its  stolen  property. 

The  roping  pony,  if  it  had  confidence  in  its  rider,  forgave 
occasional  spills;  but,  once  there  occurred  an  upset  which 
the  canny  Uttle  beast  considered  inexcusable,  that  partic- 
ular rider  could  never  thereafter  make  a  catch  from  the 
back  of  that  particular  pony.  The  beast's  shght  outward 
swerve  at  the  instant  of  each  throw  would  cause  the  noose 
to  land  just  short  of  its  mark,  but  short  every  time;  and, 
throughout  the  whole  adventure,  butter  would  not  melt 
in  the  httle  pony's  mouth. 

There  were  marked  differences  in  the  speed  of  the  throw. 
The  noose  of  some  men  settled  slowly  and  Ughtly  on  the 
target,  the  rope  behind  in  sinuous  hne.  The  noose  of  other 
men  moved  Hke  a  bullet,  and  stood  at  the  end  of  a  ramrod. 

Save  in  Texas,  few  men  attempted  to  lariat  an  animal 
which  was  more  than  twenty-five  feet  away. 

One  now  sees,  upon  the  theatrical  stage,  men  and  women 
who  can  vitalize  a  rope,  and  can  make  its  noose  move  when 
and  whither  the  actor  wills.  However  remarkable  the  per- 
formance, it  is  not  roping,  for  it  is  given  from  a  platform 
steadier  than  the  back  of  a  rushing,  whirling  horse,  omits 
all  strategy  to  force  a  rapidly  moving  target  into  fair  posi- 
tion, and  calls  for  no  nice  instinct  as  to  the  proper  instant 
for  the  throw. 

Cowboys  frequently  threw  from  foot  instead  of  from  the 
pony's  back,  but  these  throws  from  foot  usually  amoimted 
to  no  more  than  dropping  a  noose  either  over  the  kicking 


LIVE  STOCK  229 

leg  of  an  animal  already  down  and  held  by  a  horseman, 
or  else  over  the  neck  of  some  calf  or  colt. 

Should  a  free  animal  of  mature  years  be  caught,  the  un- 
fortunate puncher  at  the  other  end  of  the  reata  turned  side- 
ways, left  flank  toward  the  enemy,  jammed  the  rope  against 
his  own  right  hip,  gripped  with  his  left  hand  far  down  the 
lariat,  dug  his  heels  and  the  edges  of  his  boots  into  the 
earth,  and  leaned  far  backward,  then  to  commence  a  series 
of  jumps,  each  concluding  with  a  like  digging  in  and  lean- 
ing back. 

After  the  noose  had  lodged  and  before  the  lariat  had 
tautened,  this  pimcher  might  have  transferred  to  the  en- 
snared animal  much  of  the  puncher's  share  of  the  prospec- 
tive jerk,  accomplishing  this  by  swinging  the  rope's  home 
end  in  a  wide,  vertical  circle  at  a  right-angle  with  the  hne 
of  throw.  This  would  have  started  a  ''roll,"  a  corkscrew, 
wave-hke  motion,  which,  travelling  along  the  reata  to  its 
far  end,  would  have  landed  with  a  jar.  If  the  jar  and  the 
jerk  had  been  coincident,  there  would  have  been  a  tremen- 
dous shock  to  the  animal,  and  the  latter  pretty  surely  would 
have  somersaulted. 

But  if,  at  any  time  that  there  was  a  strain  upon  the 
lariat,  the  cowboy  had  happened  to  be  at  other  than  ap- 
proximately a  right-angle  with  the  course  of  the  beast  he 
had  roped,  and  worst  of  all  to  be  behind  the  brute,  and  so 
subject,  in  this  latter  contingency,  to  what  was  termed  a 
*'line  pull,"  or  ''end  pull,"  he  would  have  been  reduced  to 
the  relative  position  of  the  traditional  man  who  tried  to 
stop  a  runaway  horse  by  holding  onto  its  traces. 

The  roper,  when  working  afoot,  also  might  amehorate 
his  task  by  using  the  "snubbing  post,"  which  was  a  ver- 
tical, round  timber  some  five  feet  high,  firmly  set  in  the 
earth  at  the  centre  of  the  corral,  and  stout  enough  to  stand 
the  strains  to  which  it  was  subjected. 

He  could  hitch  his  lariat  to  this  post;  make  a  successful 


230  THE  COWBOY 

throw;  take  the  initial  part  of  the  strain  in  the  acrobatic 
way  described  above;  and  then,  letting  go  of  his  lariat,  allow 
the  post  to  assume  the  remaining  stress.  Or  else,  with  a 
''free"  reata,  he  could  make  his  catch,  and  afterward  snub 
his  rope  to  the  post. 

However,  the  post  could  not  with  impunity  be  used  for 
the  throwing  of  powerful  animals.  The  tremendous  pull 
which  their  downfall  caused  might  break  a  lariat  so  un- 
yieldingly held. 

The  throwing  of  an  animal  with  a  particularly  heavy 
crash  was  called,  as  was  every  other  Titanic,  masterful 
act  by  man  to  beast,  a  "busting  wide  open"  of  the  abused 
brute. 


CHAPTER  XII 
BRANDING  AND  THE  ROUND-UP 

TAILING — BRANDING  FIRE — BULLDOGGING — BRANDS  AND  MARKS — BRAND- 
ING-IRONS AND  BRANDS — BRANDING  CUSTOMS — MAVERICKS,  DERIVATION 
OF  TERM — BRAND  BLOTCHING — HOG-TIES — ESTRAYS — OPEN  ROUND-UP — 
INSPECTORS — ATTACKS   BY   CATTLE — STAMPEDING   THE   BEEF   ISSUE 

For  the  downing  of  an  animal,  'Hailing'*  sometimes  took 
the  place  of  roping.  Any  member  of  the  horse  or  cattle 
families  could,  when  travelling  at  all  rapidly,  be  sent  heels 
over  head  by  the  simple  process  of  overtaking  the  brute, 
seizing  its  tail,  and  giving  the  latter  a  pull  to  one  side.  This 
would  throw  the  animal  off  its  balance,  and  over  it  would 
crash,  onto  its  head  and  shoulder.  Though  the  shghtest  of 
yanks  frequently  was  capable  of  producing  the  result,  many 
men  assured  success  through  a  turn  of  the  tail  about  the 
saddle  horn,  this  supplemented  sometimes,  in  the  case  of 
cattle,  by  a  downward  heave  of  the  rider's  leg  upon  the 
straining  tail. 

Horses,  unless  patently  worthless,  were  seldom  tailed. 
The  process  offered  too  much  risk  of  springing  a  knee  or 
of  spraining  a  shoulder. 

Occasionally,  under  playful  impulse,  a  puncher  would 
tail  a  fellow  rider's  pony,  but  this  act  rarely  was  intended 
to  accomplish  more  than  to  cause  the  Httle  horse,  by  a  sud- 
den jiunp,  to  jolt  its  rider.  With  similarly  jocose  purpose, 
a  lariat  would  land  about  a  man  or  around  the  neck  of  the 
horse  beneath  him;  though,  under  such  circumstances,  the 
noose  never  was  jerked  to  tautness. 

While  we  have  been  wandering  far  afield  in  general  ob- 
servations, the  cowboys  have  been  sticking  to  their  business 
at  the  rodeo  corral.  Out  of  this  corral,  the  undesired  ani- 
mals finally  were  weeded,  to  sift  in  twos  and  threes  over 

231 


232  THE  COWBOY 

the  horizon,  sooner  or  later  to  reform,  so  far  as  possible,  into 
the  very  bands  which  had  been  so  rudely  disturbed  eariier 
in  the  day,  and  to  resume  the  very  haunts  from  which  the 
beasts  had  unwilUngly  been  driven.  As  they  one  by  one 
passed  through  the  corral's  bars,  they  received  farewell 
slaps  from  lariats'  ends,  mere  slaps,  save  in  the  case  of  a 
horse  leaving  a  cattle  corral,  or  of  a  steer  or  cow  leaving 
one  of  horses.  These  latter  departing  and  excepted  brutes, 
however  inoffensive,  invariably  were  assumed  to  have  in- 
vited themselves  to  the  party,  and  venom  was  put  into 
each  dismissal  blow  and  into  the  words  accompanying  it. 

While  cutting  out  and  roping  were  progressing  within 
the  corral,  there  rose  from  it  a  cloud  of  dust;  and  out  of 
this,  if  cattle  were  the  stock  involved,  came  a  constant  and 
pandemoniac  chorus  from  bleating  calves  and  bellowing 
mothers  separated  in  the  mel^e. 

In  due  time  all  the  unbranded  animals  were  discovered. 
One  by  one,  they  were  cut  out,  were  herded  to  the  vicinity 
of  the  bonfire  which  held  the  branding-irons,  were  there 
thrown  by  roping,  or,  if  homed,  sometimes  by  ''bulldog- 
ging,"  and,  when  prone,  not  only  were  branded,  but  also 
were  subjected  to  such  surgery,  if  any,  as  might  be  neces- 
sary. In  the  case  of  cattle,  if  they  fell  inconveniently  far 
from  the  fire,  they,  regardless  of  intervening  sticks  and 
stones,  ignominiously  were  dragged  at  a  lariat's  end  to  the 
desired  spot.  Horses  were  given  more  considerate  treat- 
ment, in  that  some  care  was  exercised  that  they  be  not 
^'dumped"  so  far  from  the  flames  as  to  require  this  skin- 
abrading  haulage. 

The  bonfire,  if  in  Texas,  was  required  by  local  law  to  be 
inside  the  corral's  enclosure,  the  purpose  of  the  law  being 
to  prevent  branding  in  unfrequented  locahties,  and  thereby 
to  lessen  steahng.  In  States  other  than  Texas,  the  fire  often 
blazed  just  outside  the  corral's  gate. 

Toward  the  fire  at  an  important  round-up,  animals  sHth- 


BRANDING  AND  THE  ROUND-UP  233 

ered  every  few  seconds,  sliding  on  their  sides,  their  backs, 
on  any  part  of  their  anatomies,  all  of  the  beasts  highly  in- 
dignant. 

Some  cattle  landed  there  as  victims  of  ''bulldogging,'' 
and  not  of  roping.  BuUdogging  involved  throwing  one's 
right  arm  over  a  steer's  or  cow's  neck,  the  right  hand  grip- 
ping the  neck's  loose,  bottom  skin  or  the  base  of  the  right 
horn  or  the  brute's  nose,  while  the  left  hand  seized  the  tip 
of  the  brute's  left  horn.  The  ''dogger"  then  rose  clear  of 
the  ground;  and,  by  lunging  his  body  downward  against 
his  own  left  elbow,  so  twisted  the  neck  of  the  brute  that 
the  latter  lost  its  balance  and  fell.  It  was  a  somewhat  ac- 
tive performance,  because,  the  instant  the  dogger  took 
hold,  the  seized  beast  began  to  run,  and  the  man's  legs, 
when  not  touching  the  ground  in  flying  leaps,  were  waving 
outward  to  avoid  his  maddened  vehicle's  knees. 

An  animal,  thus  to  be  thrown,  had  to  be  moving  at  high 
speed,  for  the  beast  had  to  be  deprived  not  only  of  balance, 
but  also  of  abihty  to  regain  it.  The  feat,  though  favored 
in  public  exhibitions,  found  little  usage  in  every-day  Hfe; 
except  occasionally  it  might  be  appHed  to  a  youngster  which 
was  of  no  great  weight,  was  attempting  to  dodge,  and,  for 
the  latter  reason,  had  its  neck  already  somewhat  twisted. 
Roping  would  achieve  the  same  result  and  was  much  less 
onerous. 

In  the  bonfire  were  the  branding-irons  of  all  the  ranches 
interested  in  the  round-up.  Beside  the  fire  stood  the  ''tally 
man,"  a  person  selected  for  the  position  because  of  his 
honesty  and  his  clerical  accuracy,  or  possibly  because  of  his 
physical  inabihty  to  render  more  strenuous  service.  He 
entered  on  a  "tally-sheet "  a  tally  mark  for  each  animal 
on  which  an  owner's  brand  or  mark  was  placed;  and,  while 
he  worked  his  stubby  pencil,  he  monotonously  chanted 
somewhat  as  follows:  "Star  K  Outfit,  one  calf,  Circle  Nine 
Ranch,  one  calf,"  etc. 


234  THE  COWBOY 

As  a  sprawling  beast  was  dragged  up  to  the  fire  and  its 
ownership  disclosed,  there  was  pressed  against  the  brute 
the  appropriate,  red-hot  iron,  and  there  were  added  by  the 
knife  such  additional  '' marks, '^  if  any,  by  way  of  cuts  on 
ears,  dewlaps,  or  other  folds  of  skin,  as  the  owner  had 
adopted  to  further  prove  proprietorship. 

These  burns  and  cuts  were  permanent,  and  established 
everywhere  the  ownership  of  the  brute  that  wore  them, 
even  though  he  strayed  across  the  continent. 

Each  raiser  of  horses  or  cattle  registered  with  the  proper 
official  of  his  State  or  county  a  written  instrument  wherein 
was  claimed  the  exclusive  right  to  burn  upon  a  particular 
part  of  an  animal,  such  as  a  specified  shoulder  or  rump, 
a  particular  design  made  of  certain  numbers,  letters,  fines, 
or  of  combinations  of  these  elements,  or  to  apply  specified 
cuts  or  chippings  to  a  stated  ear,  both  ears,  the  dewlap  or 
other  feasible  fold  of  skin,  or  to  do  both  these  things.  If 
nobody  had  made  prior  claim  for  the  use  of  the  design,  the 
latter  was  formally  allowed,  was  entered  in  the  official 
''brand  book,'^  and  became  in  effect  the  trade-mark  of  the 
the  person  who  registered  it. 

To  safeguard  whatever  cut  or  chipping  was  made,  various 
States  required  that  not  more  than  half  of  each  ear  be  re- 
moved, that  neither  ear  be  whittled  to  a  point,  and  that 
no  cut  or  chipping  made  by  one  owner  be  altered  or  ob- 
literated by  a  later  proprietor. 

Ears,  because  of  their  convenient  viewableness,  were  the 
usual  seats  of  the  cuts  and  chips. 

Cattle  commonly  received  both  the  ''brand"  and  the 
"mark"  of  their  owner;  while  horses,  to  avoid  disfigure- 
ment, were  subjected  only  to  the  brand. 

A  rancher  of  large  affairs  might,  through  absorption  of 
other  ranchmen's  businesses,  become  the  owner  of  numer- 
ous brands  and  marks;  though,  in  many  jurisdictions,  he 
was  limited  to  registering  in  his  own  name  a  single  set  of 
such  emblems. 


BRANDING  AND  THE  ROUND-UP  235 

Likewise  a  man  without  capital  but  with  definite  plan 
of  self-enrichment  would  in  many  instances  procure  the 
recording  of  a  series  of  such  signs  of  ownership,  one  in  his 
own  name,  the  others  in  the  several  names  of  his  various 
dummies.  He  would  do  this  because  he  would  anticipate 
that,  when  he  took  to  *^ rustling"  and  to  '^ pasting  his 
brand"  on  other  people^s  animals,  he  would  prefer  not  to 
have  it  seem  that  each  of  his  four  or  five  mangy  cows  had 
given  birth  to  eight  calves  in  a  single  season. 

Although,  strictly  speaking,  a  brand  was  the  product  of 
a  hot  iron  while  a  mark  was  a  knife  cut,  both  in  colloquial 
usage  were  termed  brands. 

The  branding-iron  was  in  the  form  of  a  straight  poker 
called  a  *^ running  iron,"  used  like  a  pencil,  and  producing 
a  ^'running  brand";  or  else  it  was  in  the  form  of  a  soUd 
block  of  type  recording  at  one  touch  the  whole  design  and 
thus  creating  a  ^^set  brand." 

While  the  brand  might  be  of  any  size  its  owner  wished, 
convenience  dictated  usually  seven  inches  as  the  maximum 
for  both  height  and  breadth,  and  two  and  four  inches  as 
the  respective  minimums  for  these  two  dimensions. 

The  letters,  figures,  or  designs  in  a  brand  commonly 
bore  some  relation  to  the  owner^s  name  or  to  some  event 
of  either  business  or  sentimental  interest  to  him,  and  al- 
ways were  selected  and  placed  in  combination  only  after 
careful  consideration  as  to  the  extent  of  their  immunity 
from  forging  alteration.  A  thief  readily  could  retouch  a 
letter  C  into  a  zero  or  a  letter  0;  while  the  letter  I  as  readily 
could  be  changed  to  any  one  of  twelve  other  letters,  or, 
with  a  mmieral  placed  after  it,  be  transformed  into  the 
figure  one.  Slight  effort  would  change  a  3  into  an  8  or  a 
B,  would  shift  a  H  into  an  H.  Crowding  letters  or  figures 
together,  surrounding  them  with  framing  lines,  placing 
short,  horizontal  markings  across  their  open  ends,  all  tended 
to  prevent  improper  alterations.    So  did  the  filling  out  of 


236  THE  COWBOY 

geometrical  diagrams  in  such  way  as  that  there  should  not 
remain  strokes,  capable  with  slight  additions  of  forming 
very  different-looking  markings. 

The  designs  ordinarily  used  were  simple,  because  com- 
phcated  ones,  when  the  brands  healed  and  their  lines  some- 
what shifted  position,  were  apt  to  become  confused. 

When  the  brand^s  design  bore  framing  lines,  it  was  said 
to  be  '^ boxed."  In  the  absence  of  such  enclosure,  it  was 
called  an  ''open  brand." 

Consideration  was  given  also  to  the  location  of  the  knife 
cuts,  and  to  the  advisabihty  of  having  them  in  straight  or 
wavy  shts,  and  with  or  without  discard  of  a  narrow  wedge 
of  cartilage. 

Having  designed  his  brand,  the  ranchman  next  decided 
and  announced  how  he  wanted  it  to  sound  when  orally  de- 
scribed, and  thus  fixed  the  order  in  which  the  component 
elements  should  be  mentioned.  In  so  doing,  he  rarely  exer- 
cised caprice,  but  almost  always  was  obedient  to  the  reason- 
able limitations  of  common  usage. 

When  a  ranchman  sold  an  animal  imprinted  with  his, 
the  seUing  ranchman's,  brand,  there  was  given  to  the  pur- 
chaser a  written  bill  of  sale;  and  the  already  decorated 
animal  might  receive  one,  if  not  two,  additional  brands. 
Thus,  the  brute  might  be  given  one  which  was  known  inter- 
changeably as  the  "vent  brand"  (from  Spanish  ''venta," 
meaning  a  sale)  or  ''counter  brand,"  and  which  was  the 
seller's  admission  of  the  fact  of  sale;  and  might  be  sub- 
jected also  to  the  purchaser's  ownership  brand.  Wherefore 
a  thoroughly  etched  side  upon  a  cow  meant  that  she  had 
had  successive  owners.  The  vent  brand  ordinarily  was  a 
facsimile  of  the  seller's  ownership  brand,  though  it  might 
be  reduced  in  size. 

While  members  of  the  cattle  family  obtained,  save  in 
rare  instances,  all  the  decorations  mentioned  in  the  pre- 
ceding paragraph,  horses  ordinarily  graduated  from  UabiUty 


BRANDING  AND  THE  ROUND-UP  237 

to  branding  as  soon  as  they  received  their  initial  ownership 
impression,  and  their  subsequent  proprietors  commonly 
rehed  upon  possession  of  bills  of  sale.  Branding  somewhat 
injured  the  horse's  appearance,  so  he  was  spared  from  an 
overdose  of  hot  iron. 

Upon  a  cattle  drive  in  which  variously  branded  animals 
were  to  participate,  and  which  was  to  extend  beyond  the 
limits  of  a  single  county,  a  special  brand,  known  as  a  "road 
brand, '^  was  applied  for  the  purposes  of  the  trip.  This  brand 
assisted  the  herders  in  identifying  their  stock,  and  also 
tended  to  prevent  these  herders  from  improperly  merging 
in  their  herd,  and  spiriting  out  of  the  jurisdiction,  animals 
of  uninterested  owners. 

Lastly,  there  was  in  Texas  for  the  benefit  of  its  ranchmen 
a  statutory  series  of  so-called  "county  brands,"  a  separate, 
prescribed  letter  or  group  of  letters  for  each  Texan  county. 
Thus  a  Texan,  if  he  wished,  might  place  upon  his  animal 
not  only  his  individual  brand  of  ownership,  but  also  the 
county  brand  of  the  county  in  which  he  ranched ;  this  latter 
brand,  if  used,  going  by  legal  requirement  onto  the  animaPs 
neck.  Thereafter  a  thief,  seeking  to  alter  brands,  would 
be  compelled  either  to  change  both  the  brands,  or  else  to 
change  the  ownership  brand  to  one  recorded  in  the  par- 
ticular county  to  which  the  county  brand  related. 

The  road  brand  often  was  apphed  through  openings  in 
the  fences  of  a  ''shoot,"  for,  if  the  animals  involved  were 
numerous  and  mature,  their  roping  would  be  unduly  oner- 
ous. 

At  the  round-up,  upon  each  such  unbranded  animal  as 
was  attended  by  a  mother  went  a  dupUcate  of  the  most 
recent  ownership  brand  the  mother  bore,  unless  the  follow- 
ing condition  obtained.  If  the  mother  were  locally  owned, 
and  if  also  her  brand  were  one  of  a  distant  State  and  did 
not,  upon  the  local  range,  appear  upon  the  animals  of  an- 
other rancher,  her  local  owner,  through  desire  to  protect 


238  THE  COWBOY 

her  from  undue  distress  or  for  other  reason,  may  have  re- 
frained from  imposing  his  own  brand  upon  her.  In  such 
event,  her  attendant  offspring  would  receive  the  brand  of 
its  mother's  local  owner,  and  not  a  dupHcate  of  any  brand 
the  mother  carried. 

Furthermore,  if  a  mother  should  display  an  assortment  of 
ownership  markings  so  hopelessly  confusing  as  not  to  dis- 
close the  identity  of  her  then  owner,  her  attendant  young- 
ster would  be  dealt  with  as  though  it  were  a  '' maverick," 
which  latter,  conscience-destroying  and  trouble-creating 
object  will  presently  explain  itself. 

In  the  absence  of  such  excepting  conditions,  the  infant 
received,  as  a  matter  of  course,  a  dupUcate  of  its  mother's 
most  recent  ownership  inscription,  whether  burned  or  cut 
or  both.  She  might  have  strayed  with  her  child  from  south- 
ern Texas  but,  nevertheless,  northern  Montana  was  bound 
in  honor  to  protect  the  presumptive  Texan  owner  of  many 
hundred  miles  away. 

Any  person  having  in  mind  these  rules  and  customs  and 
watching  the  branding  at  the  corral  could  confidently  read 
the  branded  inscriptions.  He  would  know  that  '^4-28," 
meant  ''four  bar  twenty-eight,"  since  a  hyphen  always 
was  called  a  ''bar";  that,  because  a  capital  letter  of  size 
was  commonly  termed  "big,"  "A2"  was  translatable  into 
"big  a  two";  that,  because  a  letter  or  figure  lying  on  its 
side  was  termed  "lazy,"  a  prone  letter  "m"  underscored 
was  the  "lazy  m  bar."  This  person  would  know  also  that, 
because  a  ring  was  dubbed  a  "circle,"  a  letter  "g"  enclosed 
within  a  ring  was  the  "circle  g";  that,  because  a  circle's 
arc  was,  according  to  its  length,  designated  as  a  "quarter," 
"half,"  or  "three-quarter"  "circle,"  a  scant  bit  of  a  curve 
followed  by  a  letter  "r"  was  the  "quarter-circle  r,"  and 
that,  because  anything  looking  like  a  diamond  or  even  its 
cousin  was  called  "diamond,"  a  figure  "5"  within  a  lozenge 
should  be  interpreted  as  "diamond  five."     This  person 


BRANDING  AND  THE  ROUND-UP  239 

would  know  also  that  any  parallelogram,  regardless  of  the 
ratio  between  its  length  and  height,  was  a  '^ block,''  a  ^'box,'' 
or  a  ^^ square,''  whichever  its  owner  cared  to  term  it,  that 
the  faintest  resemblance  to  a  pair  of  wings  gave  the  prefix 
of  ''flying,"  so  that  the  numeral  "9,"  between  two  mis- 
shapen bulges  was  the  ''flying  nine,"  and  that  other  de- 
signs were  attempted  pictures,  and  should  be  entitled 
"broken  pipe,"  "sombrero,"  "spur,"  "bit,"  "elk  horn," 
"two  star,"  "wheel,"  or  whatever.  Finally,  this  person 
would  know  that  still  further  designs  had  arbitrary,  slangy 
designations  such  as  "wallop"  (a  wide  letter  "U"  atop 
another  letter  "U"  equally  wide  but  inverted),  "whang- 
doodle"  (a  group  of  interlocking  wings  with  no  "flying," 
central  design),  and  "hog  pen"  (two  parallel  Unes  crossing 
two  other  parallel  Hues  at  a  right  angle). 

Sometimes  a  design  had  foisted  upon  it  by  a  naive  local 
public  a  designation  unexpected  by  the  design's  creator. 
The  late  ex-President  Theodore  Roosevelt,  when  a  ranch- 
man, registered  in  Dakota  three  brands  in  the  respective 
forms  of  an  elk  horn,  a  triangle,  and  a  Maltese  cross.  The 
last  of  these  promptly  became  on  his  neighbors'  Ups  the 
"Maltee  cross,"  these  neighbors  supposing  that  "Mal- 
tese" was  of  the  plural  number. 

No  Easterner  should  too  patronizingly  smile  at  this  inno- 
cence, for  did  not  New  England,  years  before,  not  only 
share  the  mariners'  belief  that  one  lone  Portuguese  was  a 
"Portogee,"  but  also,  having  assumed  that  "chaise"  meant 
at  least  two  carriages,  call  a  single  one  of  them  a  ^*shay"? 

All  of  the  pictures  used  in  a  brand  were  of  sufficiently 
open  drawing  as  not  to  hide  prior  brands;  because,  early 
in  the  industry,  it  had  been  found  necessary  to  frown  on 
cross-hatched  markings,  as  also  on  burnt  spots  of  abnormal 
size,  and  thus  to  forbid  the  use  of  the  *'sash,"  or  "window- 
sash,"  the  "frying-pan,"  and  other  hke  designs,  all  capable 
of  effecting  a  general  obUteration. 


240  THE  COWBOY 

The  marks  produced  by  knife  cuts  had  no  technical  or 
picturesque  designations.  The  latter  ran  in  this  typical 
manner:  ^^One  straight-edged,  wedge-shaped  sUt  on  left 
side  of  right  ear/'  etc. 

The  spectator  at  the  corral  could  find  interesting  his- 
tory on  the  skins  of  many  of  the  animals.  Over  there  was 
a  beef  which  bore  upon  his  neck  ^^BZ,"  the  county  brand 
of  Brazos  County,  Texas,  and  upon  his  hip  the  ownership 
inscription  of  a  rancher  in  that  county.  The  brute's  sides, 
scarred  with  signs  of  proprietorship,  of  sale,  and  of  the  road, 
declared  that  he  now  belonged  to  the  Double  Triangle  Out- 
fit of  Montana;  that,  before  passing  into  this  ownership, 
he  had  been  an  asset  of  successively  the  Three  Flags  Ranch 
of  Wyoming  and  the  Diamond  Bar  K  men  in  Colorado;  and 
that  he  had  come  northward  ''on  the  hoof,''  and  not  by  rail. 
Beyond  him,  was  a  steer  which  showed  from  his  markings 
that  he  had  been  either  a  maverick  or  the  child  of  a  too 
gaudily  decorated  mother,  and  also  had  walked  from  a 
Southern  State  to  the  spot  at  which  the  spectator  saw  him. 

Of  course,  no  ranchman  attempted  to  remember  the 
ownership  of  all  the  numerous  brands  and  marks.  While 
those  of  the  larger,  estabhshed  ranches  were  widely  known, 
those  of  small  or  new  outfits  often  forced  inquirers  from 
beyond  the  local  range  to  apply  for  information  to  the 
various  registering  officials. 

If,  during  the  transaction  at  the  fire,  a  wrong  brand  mis- 
takenly were  applied  to  an  animal,  the  beast,  nevertheless, 
was  turned  over  to  the  owner  of  that  brand;  but,  as  soon 
as  an  animal  of  his  appeared  for  marking,  it  was  ''traded 
back"  to  the  owner  of  the  first  brute,  and,  onto  this  last 
arriving  beast,  the  "traded"  animal,  went  the  marking  of 
the  man  who  had  borne  the  original  loss.  Thus  ultimately 
nobody  suffered  privation  from  the  error.  True,  for  a  year, 
mother  and  offspring  would  carry  inconsistent  inscriptions; 
but  the  official  tally-sheet  would  explain  the  cause.    At  the 


BRANDING  AND  THE  ROUND-UP  241 

year's  end,  parent  and  child  would  separate,  and  no  ap- 
parent evidence  of  ^'rustling''  would  then  exist. 

However,  it  might  be  that  no  animal  would  appear  for 
trading  back,  in  which  event  the  gainer  would  settle  with 
the  loser  by  paying  cash,  by  giving  an  *'I.O.U.,"  or  by  de- 
livering an  already  branded  animal,  which  beast  now  had 
to  accept  both  a  vent  brand  and  a  second  ownership  brand. 

Pursuant  both  to  long-estabUshed  custom,  and  in  some 
locaUties  to  formal  edict,  branding  other  than  that  per- 
formed by  *' rustlers''  was  done  usually  in  the  presence  of 
men  from  several  ranches;  but,  whether  it  were  so  done 
or  instead  were  carried  on  by  the  men  of  a  single  ranch,  it 
generally  was  intended  to  be  conducted  honestly.  Even 
so,  upon  a  range  dominated  by  a  single  ranch  that  treated 
well  its  employees,  the  home  brand  had,  through  the  enthu- 
siastic loyalty  of  the  punchers,  a  careless  habit  of  wander- 
ing, at  a  round-up,  onto  an  orphan's  prostrate  form. 

There  rarely  was  from  overt  stealing  as  much  loss  as  the 
novelists  have  set  up,  for  the  thief  ran  too  much  risk  of  de- 
tection and  faced  the  severest  of  penalties.  Thievery  in- 
directly accompHshed  through  the  altering  of  brands  pro- 
duced very  considerable  seepage;  but  its  extent,  except  in 
Wyoming,  has  never  been  ascertained,  even  approximately. 

In  the  earlier  years,  whoever  anywhere  found  a  ^^  maver- 
ick," or  '' sleeper,"  an  animal  unbranded  and  without  ma- 
ternal escort,  might  impose  on  it  the  finder's  ownership 
brand.  Later,  and  by  successive  steps,  this  broad  principle 
was  greatly  restricted.  First,  it  was  unofficially  decreed 
that  a  man  might  place  his  brand  upon  only  such  mavericks 
as  he  discovered  upon  his  own  range.  Next,  there  was 
added  to  this  limitation  a  further  one  which  not  only  for- 
bade any  cowboy  to  place  his  own  brand  upon  any  maver- 
ick, but  also  required  him,  in  return  for  a  cash  bonus 
awarded  him  for  each  maverick  which  he  discovered  upon 
his  employer's  range,  to  turn  over  his  finds  either,  as  in 


242  THE  COWBOY 

some  localities,  to  his  employer  or,  as  in  other  localities, 
to  the  stockmen's  association  or  stock  commissioners  of 
the  local  State. 

But  even  this  amendment  left  the  door  open  to  grave 
abuses  by  unscrupulous  persons.  The  latter,  whether 
rancher  desiring  more  live  stock  or  puncher  seeking  a  bonus, 
easily  could  convert  an  attractive  colt  or  caK  into  an  actual 
orphan.  One  shot  would  do  it.  Because  of  the  activity 
of  these  so-called  ^'maverick  factories,"  as  the  Range  termed 
all  exterminators  of  parents  with  their  inconvenient  brands, 
still  further  amendments  seemed  necessary.  Accordingly, 
the  bonus  system  was  abohshed,  and  on  some  ranges,  it 
was  prescribed  even  that  no  cowpuncher  might  own  live 
stock.  Furthermore,  the  law  ordained  that  everywhere, 
except  in  such  localities  as  locally  agreed  to  retain  the  ear- 
lier method  of  permitting  a  rancher  to  brand  whatever 
mavericks  he  or  his  men  found  on  his  own  range,  the  un- 
branded  waifs  should  be  sold  at  auction  by  the  local  stock 
commissioners  or  association,  the  buyer  then  to  have  right 
to  add  his  ownership  brand  to  the  vent  brand  of  the  selhng 
official  body,  and  the  cash  proceeds  from  the  sale  to  go  either 
to  the  support  of  the  stock  inspectors  and  detectives  of  the 
State  in  which  the  transaction  occurred,  or  else  to  some 
other  designated  pubhc  use. 

Maverick,  speaking  from  the  dictionary,  appHed  to  both 
horses  and  cattle;  but  upon  the  Range,  the  term  was  re- 
stricted to  members  of  the  cattle  family,  and  brandless 
colts  were  termed  either  ^' slick  ears,''  or  else,  more  com- 
monly and  in  plain  EngUsh,  ''unbranded  colts,"  though 
they  were  dealt  with  as  if  mavericks. 

^^ Slick  ear,"  was  sometimes  appUed  as  well  to  cattle; 
and,  in  such  case,  used  as  a  synonym  for  maverick,  it  de- 
noted a  wholly  unbranded  and  unmarked  animal.  Never- 
theless, in  strict  usage,  it  meant  merely  an  animal  the  ear 
of  which  was  ^^ slick,"  i.  e.,  not  slit  with  any  ownership  mark. 


BRANDING  AND  THE  ROUND-UP  243 

In  some  localities,  maverick  was  limited  to  animals  which 
were  at  least  one  year  of  age,  although,  in  other  localities, 
it  took  in  every  unbranded  calf  the  moment  it  ceased  to 
follow  its  mother  and  began  an  independent  Hfe. 

When  Samuel  Maverick,  a  Texan  rancher  of  long  years 
ago,  refused  to  brand  his  cattle  and  continually  bedevilled 
his  neighbors  with  questions  as  to  the  whereabouts  of  his 
straying  animals,  he  httle  knew  that  he  thereby  was  forc- 
ing his  name  into  the  English  lexicon. 

Such  is  the  kindher  of  the  two  traditions  as  to  how  his 
name  crept  into  the  dictionary.  His  detractors  insist  that 
he  arrived  in  Texas  with  no  assets  except  a  branding-iron, 
a  morahty  which  was  bhnd  in  one  eye,  a  far-sightedness  for 
unbranded  animals,  and  a  tireless  perseverance. 

The  honesty  of  the  West  was  not  so  complete  as  to  ex- 
clude the  existence  of  so-called  '^ brand  artists,"  ''brand 
blotters,"  or  ''brand  blotchers,"  these  being  gentlemen 
who,  with  ingenuity  and  a  piece  of  hot  metal,  added  marks 
to  those  already  on  a  beast  and  made  the  final  result  iden- 
tical with  the  "artist's"  registered  brand. 

So  flagrantly  did  these  gentlemen  miswield  the  "running 
iron,"  that  several  States  eventually  forbade  its  use  by  any- 
body, and  everywhere  its  mere  possession  gave  rise  to  sus- 
picion. 

Not  only  was  this  poker-like  implement  inducive  to  its 
transporter's  disrepute;  but  also  it  was  heavy  and  was 
awkward  to  carry  on  the  saddle.  Of  course,  honest  men 
had  but  infrequent  need  to  carry  irons,  but  the  rustler  felt 
himself  constrained  never  to  be  without  one.  He  had  al- 
ways to  be  prepared  to  "pick  up  manna,"  that  is  to  say, 
to  steal,  even  though  he  might  thus  describe  his  loot  as  a 
gift  from  heaven.  For  a  while  after  running  irons  became 
unfashionable,  he  affected  broken  horseshoes  or  the  side- 
bars of  riding  bits,  as  being  both  portable  and  inconspicuous; 
but  they,  when  heated,  proved  hard  to  manipulate. 


244  THE  COWBOY 

Baling  wire  or,  with  the  majority  of  thieves,  telegraph 
wire  took  the  place  of  all  these  appliances,  and  were  much 
more  convenient.  The  wire  could  be  folded  and  hidden 
in  the  pocket,  was  light  in  weight,  could  be  twisted  into 
the  shape  of  many  set  brands,  and,  from  its  small  diameter, 
made  lines  such  as  best  melted  into  the  already  healed  scars 
of  whatever  legitimate  brand  was  being  ^^ doctored." 

Interposing  a  wet  blanket  or  wet  buckskin  between  the 
beast's  side  and  the  hot  iron  or  wire  tended  to  make  the 
artist's  work  look,  from  the  time  he  *' painted  his  picture 
on  the  cow,"  like  a  fairly  old  brand. 

The  artists'  harvest  days  were  those  immediately  follow- 
ing the  round-up  when  the  legally  made  scars  were  still 
fresh  upon  the  animals. 

During  the  progress  of  branding,  the  punchers  often  sub- 
jected cattle  to  two  humiUating  actions  from  which  horses 
were  spared.  Though  a  horse,  when  roped  and  thrown,  was 
accorded  the  dignity  of  being  held  by  lariats  until  all  work 
on  him  had  been  finished,  a  calf  was  promptly  deprived 
of  the  reata  as  soon  as  the  infant  struck  the  ground.  There- 
upon the  Uttle  brute,  through  a  most  impolite  seizure  of 
its  ears,  had  its  head  so  twisted  as  to  he  flat  on  the  earth 
and  to  offer  a  seat  to  one  ofl&ciating  puncher.  To  effectually 
stifle  any  kicking,  a  second  puncher,  with  one  of  his  feet, 
pushed  one  hind  leg  of  the  squeaHng  victim  well  forward, 
and,  with  both  hands,  pulled  the  other  hind  leg  far  to  the 
rear.  The  httle  calf  thus  lay  helpless,  its  bulging  eyes  wildly 
rolHng,  while  still  two  other  cowboys,  one  with  hot  iron, 
the  other  with  knife,  made  brands  and  cuts. 

Then  too,  very  frequently  mature  cattle,  after  being 
thrown  by  roping  or  taihng  or  bulldogging,  had  their  legs 
(usually  two  hind  and  one  front)  fastened  together  by  a 
short  piece  of  hne;  whereupon  the  lariats,  if  any,  were  cast 
off.  Thus  '^ hog- tied,"  the  victim  was  wholly  impotent. 
As  he  was  reached  by  the  cowboys  on  their  rounds  of  the 


BRANDING  AND  THE  ROUND-UP  245 

prone  animals,  he  received  such  treatment  as  he  was  to 
have,  and  then  was  released.  Punchers  of  Mexican  blood 
frequently  used  for  the  tying,  not  a  section  of  rope,  but 
the  sashes  which  these  men  customarily  wore. 

A  horse  was  never  hog-tied,  and  rarely,  save  by  accident, 
was  roped  on  a  hind  leg.  Doing  either  of  these  things  might 
cause  such  a  strain  as  permanently  to  injure  him  for  riding 
purposes.  With  any  member  of  the  cattle  family,  the  rear 
legs  were  favorite  targets  for  the  lariat.  A  catch  above 
one  or  both  hind  feet  sprawled  the  beast  out  with  ungrace- 
ful elongation,  and  deprived  him  of  tractive  force.  After 
all,  a  horse  was  a  horse,  but  a  steer  was  only  meat. 

So  expert  were  the  punchers  that  often  has  a  single,  un- 
assisted man  accomplished,  in  terms  of  seconds,  not  of  min- 
utes, the  entire  task  of  first  ''spilUng"  a  fully  grown  steer 
by  roping  or  *' dogging,"  and  of  forthwith  hog-tying  it. 

Eventually  at  the  corral  all  the  unbranded  animals  were 
cut  out,  and  all  of  them  were  branded,  excepting  possibly 
some  '^strays,"  which  belonged  on  a  distant  range.  As 
these  vagrants  were  to  be  started  immediately  on  their 
homeward  journey,  it  was  decided  by  the  people  present 
not  to  hamper  them  with  burns  and  cuts,  but  to  leave  the 
making  of  such  decorations  to  a  home-welcoming  by  the 
vagrants'  owners. 

All  brute  visitors  from  other  ranges,  whether  such  visi- 
tors were  cattle  or  horses,  were  technically  termed  ^^ strays," 
or  ''estrays,"  though,  in  colloquial  usage,  these  technical 
terms  were  usually  reserved  for  the  cattle,  leaving  errant 
horses  to  be  called  "stray  horses."  The  beast's  wander- 
ing from  home  might  have  resulted  either  from  individual 
hkings  for  travel  or  else  from  the  dispersion  of  animals  in- 
volved previously  in  a  drift. 

The  term  stray  was  applied  to  a  single  beast  or  to  the 
brutes  in  a  smal^  group.  When  a  large  number  of  animals 
'^bunched  up"  or  ''banded  up,"  and  marched  away  from 


246  THE  COWBOY 

their  home  range,  they,  so  long  as  they  clung  together, 
were  referred  to,  not  as  '' strays,"  but  as  ''drifting''  or 
''drifted''  animals,  this  last  according  as  they  were  still 
migrating  or  had  reached  their  goal. 

As  one  by  one  the  strays  were  discovered  in  the  corral, 
they,  whether  branded  or  not,  were  segregated  into  sepa- 
rate lots  according  to  their  several  home  ranges,  and,  at 
the  conclusion  of  the  round-up's  work,  were  "thrown  over" 
to  those  ranges.  This  throwing  over  was  accompHshed 
through  the  beasts  being  driven  homeward  by  men  from 
their  own  ranches  or  ranges,  or,  if  none  such  were  present, 
by  other  punchers  assigned  to  the  task. 

If  cattle  were  to  be  shipped  to  market,  such  as  were  cut 
out  for  the  purpose  and  thus  formed  the  so-called  "beef 
cut"  were  herded  into  isolated  groups,  there  being  one 
such  group  for  each  interested  ranch,  and  each  such  group 
being  termed  a  "cut,"  unless  some  Texan  happened  by  and 
chanced  to  call  it  a  "day  herd."  When  any  such  cut  had 
received  all  its  members,  it  automatically  was,  in  nomen- 
clature, transformed  from  a  "cut"  into  a  "bunch"  or 
"herd,"  and  was  ready  to  begin  its  active  progress  toward 
the  railway  and  the  slaughter-house. 

When  the  last  estray  had  been  cut  out  and  segregated, 
when  the  beef  cut  had  been  completed,  and  when  the  last 
animal  to  be  branded  had  emitted  its  odor  of  burning  hair 
and  singed  skin,  had  scrambled  stiffly  to  its  feet  and  gone 
in  search  of  maternal  sympathy,  there  ceased  all  deahngs 
with  the  original  herd.  It  had,  in  technical  language,  been 
"worked."    In  other  words,  the  job  was  done. 

Though  the  round-up  described  in  the  foregoing  pages 
made  use  of  corrals,  and  this  was  the  prevalent  method, 
the  final  handhng  of  cattle  in  some  locaUties  during  the 
later  years  of  the  ranching  industry  was  done,  not  within 
fences,  but  in  an  "open "  round-up.  This  modification  came 
from  reahzation  that  corrals  were  not  necessary  adjuncts 


BRANDING  AND  THE  ROUND-UP  247 

for  cattle,  and  from  discovery  that  the  ones  already  built 
were  being  used  by  thieves,  particularly  in  their  nocturnal 
work. 

Horses,  if  in  quantity,  still  called  for  a  corral.  Without 
it  they  were  too  difficult  to  manage. 

For  the  open  round-up  there  was  agreed  upon  in  advance 
a  '^  holding  spof  at  which  the  cattle  herd  should  be  stopped 
and  worked.  This  place  would  be  a  valley's  end  or  lateral 
extension,  or  a  wide-spreading,  shallow  depression,  or,  if 
nature  offered  no  such  aid,  then  merely  certain  acres  on 
the  flat  plain.  When  the  designated  spot  was  reached  by 
the  herd,  the  cowboys  headed  the  cattle  and  started  them 
to  '^milUng^'  {i.  e.,  marching  in  a  circle).  From  the  mass 
thus  ^'held^'  by  these  men,  were  cut  out,  as  they  were 
needed,  the  desired  animals. 

If  the  primary  task  in  hand  were  branding,  the  brutes 
cut  out  for  that  purpose  were  free  to  wander  whither  they 
would  as  soon  as  the  hot  iron  had  performed  its  function. 

Then,  too,  strays  required  to  be  thrown  over  to  their 
home  ranges  would  be  collected  and  started  on  their  jour- 
ney. 

Meanwhile,  other  and  long-since  branded  animals,  if 
showing  contagious  nervousness,  would  be  cut  out  one  by 
one  and  chased  away;  but,  if  reasonably  placid,  they  would 
be  kept  as  decoys  to  lessen  the  chance  of  a  general  stam- 
pede. When  the  last  animal  to  be  branded  had  received 
its  burn  and  all  the  strays  had  been  disposed  of,  whatever 
beasts  still  were  ''held''  were  forthwith  released  to  their 
own  devices,  for  the  herd  had  been  worked. 

But  if  cattle  were  to  be  shipped,  such  as  were  cut  out 
for  the  purpose  were  driven  to  a  second  holding  spot  which 
was  a  Httle  removed  from  the  first,  and  there,  as  the  ''beef 
cut,"  were  held  by  mounted  men  employing  the  same  meth- 
ods as  those  above  described. 

When,  at  this  minor  rendezvous,  had  been  collected  all 


248  THE  COWBOY 

the  animals  qualified  for  it,  the  bunch  assembled  there  was 
ready  to  be  started  toward  its  destination. 

There  would  be  as  many  of  these  separate  concentration 
stations  as  there  were  separate  destinations  for  the  cut-out 
cattle,  and  each  thus  segregated  lot  of  animals  was  termed, 
as  in  the  case  of  the  corral  employing  round-up,  a  ^'cuf' 
or  ^'day  herd."  Not  only  would  each  interested  rancher 
have  at  least  one  such  rendezvous,  but  also  there  likely 
would  be  one  for  each  lot  of  strays  which  was  to  be  thrown 
over  to  its  proper  Range. 

Very  possibly  during  the  progress  of  any  round-up,  quite 
probably  while  the  resultant  product  was  being  driven  to 
the  railway,  and  assuredly  from  the  instant  it  reached  the 
railway  until  it  was  slaughtered  or  otherwise  disposed  of, 
all  the  beasts  involved  were  under  the  active  espionage 
of  Range  detectives  and  of  stock  inspectors. 

Those  tireless  men  ghded  Hke  shadows  about  the  Range 
and  along  the  routes  of  shipment. 

At  any  moment  between  the  time  that,  on  the  plains, 
cattle  were  started  for  the  railway  and  the  time  that,  in 
Chicago,  Omaha,  or  Kansas  City,  they  were  confronted 
by  the  butcher's  poleaxe,  it  might  be  discovered  by  one 
of  those  official  detectives  or  inspectors,  by  one  of  the  ship- 
per's men,  by  an  outsider,  that  in  the  herd  were  scattered 
strays  from  ranges  other  than  that  of  the  shipper.  If  suit- 
able for  beef,  these  beasts  were  not  discarded,  to  resume  a 
life  unprofitable  to  their  owners  or  to  pass  permanently 
beyond  their  owners'  advantage;  but  were  sent  through 
the  ordinary  channel  of  shipment,  sale,  and  slaughter.  Al- 
though in  the  earher  years  the  profit  was  to  their  shipper, 
in  later  years  their  money  proceeds  were  forwarded  through 
routine  channels  to  their  proper  owners  by  the  market  in- 
spector maintained  at  the  abattoir  by  the  stock  commis- 
sioners or  association  of  the  State  whence  the  brutes  were 
shipped. 


BRANDING  AND  THE  ROUND-UP  249 

Such  an  inspector  might  find,  amid  a  consignment,  beasts 
with  brands  that  belonged  on  the  shipper's  Range,  but  not 
to  the  shipper,  or  else  might  find  beasts  with  suspicious 
looking  brands  suggestive  of  '^artist's''  altering.  It  was 
his  duty  to  ascertain  if  possible  the  actual  owners  of  the 
questionable  stock,  and  to  remit  to  them  the  selling  moneys; 
or,  if  such  owners  could  not  be  found,  to  pay  over  the  funds 
to  the  stock  commissioners  or  association  of  the  State  from 
which  the  animals  had  been  sent. 

If,  in  the  case  of  an  ''altered  brand,"  an  official  could 
not,  by  external  inspection,  ascertain  what  had  been  the 
original  design,  he  might  kill  and  skin  the  animal  in  order 
to  read  the  inner  surface  of  its  hide. 

Immunity  from  steahng  was  so  utterly  dependent  upon 
strict  guarding  of  the  branding  system  that,  in  Wyoming, 
no  person  might  slaughter  unbranded  cattle  and,  in  every 
Western  State,  butchers  were  required  to  retain  on  pubhc 
view,  for  a  specified  number  of  days,  the  hides  of  all  cattle 
killed  by  them. 

When  branding  a  calf,  the  group  of  men  about  it  some- 
times received  a  hurried  visit  from  the  httle  fellow's  mother; 
which,  unadvised  that  his  wounds  were  so  superficial  as  to 
lose  their  scabs  within  two  weeks,  and  responsive  only  to 
his  vealish  cry  for  mama,  eluded  her  human  guards  and 
arrived  on  the  scene,  head  down  and  at  considerable  speed. 
If  no  readily  climbable  fence  were  at  hand,  escape  was  ef- 
fected by  a  matadorlike  wait  till  the  strategic  moment, 
by  a  handful  of  dust  thrown  into  the  charging  animal's 
eyes,  and  by  a  coincident  jump  or  roll  out  of  her  course. 
This  dust  tended  not  only  to  prevent  the  cow  from  dodging 
with  the  dodging  man,  but  also  to  discourage  her  from 
promptly  wheeling  and  returning  to  the  attack. 

The  cowboy  feared  the  Range  cow  more  than  he  did  any 
bull  or  steer.  Except  when  ''dusted"  she  kept  her  eyes 
open,  her  mind  on  her  job.    She  was  exceedingly  quick  of 


250  THE  COWBOY 

motion,  for  all  Range  cattle  were,  for  short  distances,  prac- 
tically as  fast  as  ridden  horses.  With  horns  in  lieu  of 
a  broom,  she  went  about  her  house-cleaning  with  consider- 
able enthusiasm  and  thoroughly  feminine  persistency. 

The  bull  or  steer,  on  the  other  hand,  lumberingly  moved 
himself  into  battle  position,  horns  to  the  enemy,  roaringly 
advertised  that  he  was  about  to  annihilate,  lowered  his 
head,  shut  both  eyes,  and  came  on  like  a  runaway  coal-truck. 
The  intended  victim  had  merely  to  bide  his  own  time,  and, 
taking  a  short  step  to  one  side,  to  watch  a  blundering,  con- 
ceited mass  of  flesh  pound  harmlessly  by. 

The  cowboy's  intimate  knowledge  of  animals'  natures 
and  his  alert  observation  repeatedly  saved  him  from  sit- 
uations which  otherwise  would  have  meant  disaster  for 
him. 

Some  ranchmen's  knowledge  of  animals'  natures  occa- 
sionally worked  to  the  disadvantage  of  the  Red  Man  who 
was  expecting  to  eat  governmentally  furnished  beef.  These 
ranchmen  knew  among  other  things  that  cattle,  removed 
from  the  latter's  Range  but  released  within  a  few  days' 
journey  of  their  former  haunts,  would  promptly  journey 
homeward.  This  homing  instinct  and  the  legal  effect  of 
the  brand  together  laid  the  foundation  for  an  abuse  prac- 
tised in  connection  with  the  Indians'  affairs  and  known  on 
the  Range  as  '^ stampeding  the  beef  issue." 

The  United  States  Government,  as  an  incident  of  its 
care  of  its  Indian  wards,  issued  to  them  at  stated  intervals, 
beef  on  the  hoof.  This  beef  was  in  the  form  of  live  cattle 
bought  from  the  lowest  bidding  ranchmen  and  herded  into 
a  corral  at  the  Indian  Agency. 

Each  so  many  Indians  was  entitled  to  one  animal,  each 
such  Indian  group  being  given  for  the  purpose  a  serially 
numbered  claim  ticket.  As  a  ticket's  number  was  an- 
nounced, the  group  holding  that  ticket  ranged  itself  at  the 
entrance  of  the  corral.    The  bars  were  lowered,  and  there 


BRANDING  AND  THE  ROUND-UP  251 

was  let  out  one  animal,  which  the  Indians  of  the  group 
might,  as  they  elected,  kill  on  the  spot  or  drive  away. 

Thus  animals  were  successively  released  from  the  corral. 
Meanwhile,  within  it  cowboys  were  urging  up  to  the  bars 
two  or  three  renegade  steers  which  studiously  had  been 
teased.  Another  ticket's  munber  was  announced.  Up 
stepped  expectantly  an  Indian  group.  Down  went  the  bars, 
and  out  shot  the  renegades,  with  the  whole  herd,  obedient 
to  cattle's  gregarious  instinct,  galloping  behind  them. 

The  stock,  thus  freed,  headed  for  home;  and  by  reason 
of  its  brands,  became  for  all  practical  purposes,  once  more 
the  property  of  the  very  persons  who  had  sold  it  to  the  gov- 
ernment. 

As  regards  this  abuse,  the  government  would  do  nothing, 
the  Indians  could  do  nothing,  and  the  dishonest,  benefited 
ranchmen  kept  quiet. 

The  ''beef  issue"  was  of  so  unsavory  a  reputation  that 
many  ranchmen  would  make  no  tenders  for  it. 


h 


CHAPTER  XIII 
THE  CATTLE  DRIVE 

CATTLE  DRIVE — SINGING  TO  CATTLE — STAMPEDE — BURIALS  OP  DEAD  MEN 
— ^DEFINITIONS — ^WATERING  LIVE  STOCK — MORE  DEFINITIONS — RAIL  SHIP- 
MENTS— SHOOTING  GAME  FROM  TRAINS — MORALITY  OF  WEST — FURTHER 
DEFINITIONS — TEXAS  TRAIL  AND  OREGON  DRIVE — SWIMMING  CATTLE — 
QUICKSAND — MILLING — CROSSING  A  RAILWAY — QUARANTINE — FINANCIAL 
RESULTS 

If,"  upon  the  completion  of  a  round-up,  the  saleable  stock 
thereby  yielded  to  a  rancher  were  cattle,  the  next  task  for 
this  rancher  would  be  to  start  promptly  toward  the  ^^  ship- 
ping point,"  the  animals  that  were  to  be  sold.  But,  if  the 
stock  were  horses,  the  terms  of  sale  might  require  that  the 
beasts  be  well  broken,  an  obligation  which,  on  the  Range, 
was  sunmied  up  in  the  single  word  '^gentled,"  and  which 
would  take  the  animals,  in  their  first  movement,  not  to 
the  railway  but  to  the  corrals  near  their  owner's  home  ranch- 
house. 

Assume  that  the  stock  was  cattle.  Accordingly,  when 
all  confusion  about  the  rodeo  corral  or  holding  spot  had 
abated,  the  brutes  were  herded  into  a  ragged  column  and 
were  headed  toward  the  distant  railway. 

The  men  accompanying  the  beasts  were  in  number  such 
as,  for  a  large  herd,  allowed — not  counting  the  foreman 
(usually  termed  "trail  boss"),  his  assistant  (sometimes 
called  the  ''segundo")  and  the  cook — one  puncher  to  each 
two  hundred  and  fifty  cattle.  A  large  herd  was  controlled 
more  easily  than  was  a  small  one. 

No  puncher  rode  directly  in  front  of  the  column,  the 
theory  being  that,  the  less  the  herd  reaUzed  that  it  was  under 
constraint,  the  more  disposed  it  would  be  to  behave  itself 
properly.    Nevertheless,  on  each  side  of  the  column,  parallel 

252 


THE  CATTLE  DRIVE  253 

with  it,  and  at  some  distance  from  it  rode  a  line  of  cowboys 
with  long  intervals  between  the  men.  The  foremost  one 
of  the  punchers  in  each  of  these  lines  was  shghtly  more  ad- 
vanced than  the  van  of  the  herd  and  was  called  a  '^  point 
man"  or  ''lead  rider."  Each  of  the  men  in  line  behind  him 
was  termed  a  ''swing  man"  or  "flank  rider."  At  the  rear 
of  the  column  came  the  tail  riders,  the  remuda  and  the  men 
in  charge  of  it,  and  finally  the  chuck-wagon. 

The  function  of  the  swing  men  was  not  only  to  block 
their  own  cattle  from  sidewise  wandering,  but  also  to  fend 
off  all  such  foreign  cattle  as  tried  to  merge  themselves  in 
the  driven  herd. 

For  the  first  week,  the  herd  was  "shoved"  to  the  reason- 
able limit  of  its  speed,  that  the  beasts  might  tire  into  sub- 
missiveness,  and  thereafter  wilHngly  keep  to  the  course 
which  their  owners  had  planned.  During  that  week  there 
was  made  mileage,  but  not  all  of  it  in  one  direction.  When 
eventually  resigned  to  a  single  aim,  the  animals  would  make 
a  daily  sinuous  progress  of  from  ten  to  fifteen  miles  accord- 
ing to  the  smoothness  of  the  traversed  country.  But  only 
the  kindhest  of  routes  permitted  a  day's  march  to  exceed 
ten  miles. 

It  was  tiresome  grimy  business  for  the  attendant 
punchers,  who  travelled  ever  in  a  cloud  of  dust,  and  heard 
little  but  the  constant  chorus  from  the  crackling  of  hoofs 
and  of  ankle  joints,  from  the  bellows,  lows,  and  bleats  of 
the  trudging  animals. 

The  caravan  started  forth  each  morning  at  "sun-up," 
crawled  on  till  late  afternoon,  and  then,  as  a  preliminary 
to  halting  for  the  night  and  as  a  preventive  of  entangle- 
ment with  other  travelling  herds,  was  "thrown"  or  "thrown 
off  "  a  half  mile  or  more  from  the  side  of  the  trail,  if  at  that 
point  it  were  narrow  and  in  general  use.  For  the  halting 
place,  the  so-called  bed  ground,  the  punchers,  in  order  best 
to  satisfy  the  cattle's  inborn  preferences,  tried  to  find  land 


254  THE  COWBOY 

that  offered  fresh  grass  to  eat,  old  dry  grass  to  lie  upon, 
and,  if  the  weather  were  warm,  an  elevation  sufficient  to 
catch  the  breeze. 

The  animals,  throughout  their  day-long  march,  nipped 
at  the  grass  that  they  passed;  but  at  the  evening  halt  they 
set  themselves  to  a  solid  meal.  This  eaten,  the  cattle  em- 
barked, as  did  Range  horses,  upon  the  same  regimen  as 
that  which  wild  animals  pursued.  Two  hours  after  dark 
the  cattle  one  by  one  sank  down  to  sleep,  to  rise  again  at 
midnight  and  to  browse  until  that  depressing  time  of  night, 
two  o^clock,  when  all  vitality  ebbs  and  the  Death  Angel 
frequently  calls  dying  men.  Another  hour  or  so  of  sleep, 
another  browsing,  another  nap,  and  then  the  dawn  sum- 
moned the  cattle  to  their  feet.  But,  with  the  full  moon's 
hght,  the  beasts  would  eat  practically  all  night  long. 

All  through  the  darkness  men  of  the  '^  night  herd,'^  work- 
ing in  shifts  of  from  two  to  four  hours,  rode  about  the  ani- 
mals; and  as  the  men  rode  they  constantly  serenaded  the 
beasts  by  crooning  to  them  songs  or  chants,  which,  when  so 
used,  were  entitled  ''hymns."  This  serenading  was  done 
partly  to  hold  the  cattle  under  the  compelHng  spell  of  the 
human  voice,  and  partly  to  disabuse  from  the  mind  of  any 
fearsome  member  of  the  herd  suspicion  that  either  a 
puncher^s  silhouette  against  the  sky-line  or  else  the  noise 
of  his  moving  pony  might  represent  a  snooping  dragon. 
The  rider,  when  ''singing  to  the  cattle,"  as  his  vocal 
efforts  were  styled,  disgorged  all  the  words  he  knew  set  to 
all  the  tunes  he  could  remember  or  invent,  but  omitted 
any  sound  or  inflection  which  might  startle.  Sacred  airs 
were  usual,  for  from  their  simple  melodies  they  were  easy 
of  remembrance,  and  also  they  then  still  held  the  national 
popularity  which  since  has  passed  to  the  tunes  of  the  music- 
halls;  but  the  words  set  to  these  churchly  airs  well  might 
have  surprised  the  clergy.  The  proper  words,  accounts  of 
horse-races,  unflattering  opinions  of  the  cattle,  strings  of 


THE  CATTLE  DRIVE  255 

profanity,  the  voluminous  text  on  the  labels  of  coffee  or 
condensed  milk-cans,  mere  humming  sounds,  aUke  and 
with  seemingly  deep  religious  fervor,  were  poured  on  many 
a  night  into  the  appreciative  ears  of  an  audience  with  cloven 
hoofs.  Herded  horses  might  wish  for  an  occasional  reas- 
suring word,  but  they  lacked  debased  operatic  taste. 

Thus  tired  men,  cat-napping  but  always  crooning,  were 
out  in  the  black,  their  ponies  steadily,  slowly  patrolling, 
though  half  asleep ;  but  man  and  horse  were  ready  to  wake 
Uke  a  shot  and  to  act  the  instant  that  a  steer  started  to 
''roll  his  tail,"  or,  in  less  technical  English,  to  gallop  with 
his  tail  humped  up  at  its  shore  end,  an  infallible  sign  of  con- 
fident expectation  to  disregard  both  distance  and  time. 

There  was  for  the  men,  throughout  a  cattle  drive,  no 
recreation  except  swearing,  and  the  eating  of  the  very  dusty 
meals  which  the  attendant  chuck-wagon  provided.  But 
as  for  work,  there  was  always  the  exacting  labor  of  daily 
routine  punctuated  from  time  to  time  by  such  extra  gallop- 
ing tasks  as,  without  warning,  the  temperamental  natures 
of  the  cattle  interjected.  And  also  from  time  to  time  a 
"trail-cutter"  might  '^cut  the  trail,"  which  is  to  say  might 
require  the  punchers  to  halt  the  marching  herd,  to  reduce 
it  to  such  form  as  would  facilitate  inspection,  to  permit 
an  inspection,  to  cut  from  the  herd  and  deUver  to  the  trail- 
cutter  such  animals,  if  any,  as  he  was  entitled  to  demand. 
This  cutting  upon  the  drive  was  termed  "trimming  the 
herd." 

Each  ranch  owner  whose  Range  was  being  traversed  by 
the  driven  cattle  had  the  right  to  cut  the  trail,  and  might 
do  so  in  person  or  through  any  duly  accredited  employee. 
Such  a  trail-cutter  might  demand  from  the  drovers  only 
the  animals  belonging  to  the  cutter's  ranch.  Each  official 
stock  inspector  and  Range  detective  might  also  cut  the 
trail,  and  might  demand  all  animals  which,  though  actually 
within  the  herd,  did  not  legally  belong  therein. 


256  THE  COWBOY 

Day  after  day  the  marching  cattle  sauntered  down  the 
trail.  Presently,  they  encountered  a  second  bunch  of  stock 
collected  at  another  of  their  owners'  corrals,  and  were 
''bunched  up"  or  ''banded  up''  with  these  brutes.  So  it 
went  till  all  that  the  owners  were  to  ship  was  in  a  single 
herd,  and  that  ambled  on  by  day  and  halted  by  night  until 
the  "our  town,"  the  "our  shipping  point"  of  the  guarding 
punchers,  and  its  pens  beside  the  railroad  track  were  reached 
and  absorbed  the  expedition. 

All  through  the  journey  the  animals  had  proceeded 
quietly  and  rested  decently  until  one  moment  when  there 
came  a  snort,  a  bellow.  What  caused  the  snort  and  bellow 
nobody  knew  or  could  stop  to  ascertain.  Merely  "tails" 
had  "rolled,"  and  a  stampede  was  on.  From  a  common 
centre  cattle  were  darting  toward  every  point  of  the  com- 
pass. It  was  "all  hands  to  the  pumps!"  and  into  saddle 
and  on  the  run  for  every  man.  Riders  armed  with  saddle 
blankets,  with  doffed  coats,  hastily  plucked  sage-brush 
plants,  anything  that  could  be  waved,  holding  pistols,  the 
only  attainable  objects  that  would  make  a  commanding 
noise,  galloped  out  beyond  the  fleeing  animals,  headed  and 
flanked  them,  "cutting  in"  all  incipient,  bovine  meteors. 
Finally,  the  frayed  edges  of  the  mass  constricted,  and  the 
whole  was  reduced  to  a  ragged,  narrow,  rushing  column, 
one  set  of  galloping  cowboys  guiding  its  van,  another,  as 
flank  riders,  guarding  its  sides  and  endeavoring  so  far  as 
possible  to  soothe  the  animals.  The  forefront  of  this  column 
was,  under  the  pilotage  of  the  attacking  horsemen,  swerved 
into  the  shape  of  a  shepherd's  crook,  and  a  moment  later 
the  herd  was  pouring  itself  into  the  form  of  a  capital  letter 
"U." 

WHien  its  two  ends  came  opposite  each  other,  they  were 
welded  together  by  a  yelling,  waving,  shooting  set  of  mad- 
men on  the  backs  of  flying,  snorting  horses. 

This  started   "milling,"   a  merry-go-round  which  kept 


THE  CATTLE  DRIVE  257 

up  until  the  participating  cattle  quit  from  exhaustion.  Of 
course,  milling  did  not  take  place  in  a  circle,  an  eUipse,  an 
oval,  or  in  any  other  geometrical  form.  It  occurred  in  an 
irregular  chunk  of  gnmting,  bellowing  cattle,  overspread 
and  surrounded  by  an  unbreathable  cloud  of  biting  dust, 
with  cursing  cowboys  acting  as  satelUtes. 

To  the  miserable  humans  in  charge  of  the  milling,  its 
disadvantage  was  the  discomfort  which  it  caused;  its  ad- 
vantage was  that  the  cattle  involved  in  it  were,  at  its  con- 
clusion, at  the  place  from  which  they  had  started,  instead 
of  miles  away. 

The  milling  stopped,  the  animals  commenced  peacefully 
to  graze,  and  the  men  were  where  they  began,  but  were 
very  tired  and  very  mad.  In  their  next  ensuing  hynms, 
they  definitely  told  the  animals  what  was  thought  of  them. 

After  every  stampede  there  was  made  a  careful  counting 
and  inspection  of  the  rebunched  cattle,  since  not  only  did 
all  absentees  have  to  be  hunted  for,  but  also  there  had  to 
be  cut  out  and  chased  away  any  foreign  beasts  that  might 
have  been  absorbed  into  the  herd  during  the  sweeping  prog- 
ress of  the  stampede. 

If  riders  were  enmeshed  in  the  stampede  or  the  milling, 
as  they  often  were,  they  hastened  along  with  the  fracas; 
and,  as  opportunity  offered,  worked  their  way  through  open- 
ings and  shot  out  to  safety.  It  was  a  dangerous  game  of 
checkers  played  on  the  run. 

A  stampede  at  night  and  in  a  country  beset  with  ''cut 
banks,"  i.  e.,  precipitous  hillsides,  beset  also  with  deep  can- 
yons, with  vertically  sided  arroyos,  with  gopher  and  badger 
holes,  killed  many  a  steer,  broke  many  a  pony's  leg,  left 
many  a  rider  Ufeless  on  the  ground. 

After  every  night  stampede  there  was  a  counting  of 
human  noses.  This  was  done  with  anxiety  which  always 
was  as  tender  in  spirit  as  it  was  flippant  in  form.  The  riders, 
returning  one  by  one  during  the  next  day's  morning  hours. 


258  THE  COWBOY 

came  into  camp,  and  an  atmosphere  of  banter — banter  which, 
in  joking  phrases  and  with  several  participants,  ran  on  one 
occasion  somewhat  as  follows:  ''HuUoa,  Shorty,  where'd 
you  come  from?  Thought  you  was  dead.  .  .  .  Where's 
Baldy?  Guess  he's  gone  off  to  git  married.  .  .  .  No,  he 
ain't.  Here  he  comes.  .  .  .  Everybody's  in  but  Jack  and 
Skinny.  They  must  a  ridden  all  the  way  to  Omaha.  .  .  . 
There's  Jack  now,  comin'  up  over  the  top  of  that  rise." 

The  banter  suddenly  ceased,  for,  as  soon  as  Jack  had 
come  completely  over  the  top  of  the  hill  and  into  clear  view, 
he  had  begim  to  ride  rapidly  in  a  small  circle.  This  was 
one  of  the  equestrian  Indians'  two  signals  of  important 
news  or  of  request  for  strangers  to  advance  for  parley,  and 
was  often  used  by  whites  as  a  messenger  of  like  import 
or  of  serious  tidings.  At  the  first  circle,  some  one  remarked 
"Mebbe  Jack's  playing  with  a  rattler.  No,  he  ain't.  There 
he  goes  again.  He's  shore  signalling,"  while  some  one  else 
added  ''Jack  wouldn't  do  that  for  no  cows.  It  must  be 
Skinny."  The  camp  had  risen  to  its  feet  and  started  for 
the  tethered  ponies. 

Suddenly  there  floated  down  the  breeze  three  faint  sounds 
evenly  spaced.  The  wind  had  shifted,  and  its  new  course 
straight  from  Jack  to  the  camp  giving  promise  that  sounds 
would  carry  thither,  he  had  used  his  gun.  The  camp  gasped, 
''My  God,  it's  Skinny,"  and  then  the  foreman  said,  with 
machine-gun  rapidity  but  icily  quiet  tone,  "Pete,  quick, 
get  them  two  clean  shirts  that's  drying  on  the  wagon  tongue. 
We  may  need  'em  for  bandages."  Nobody  mentioned  any- 
thing about  a  shovel,  but  a  collision  at  the  wagon's  tail- 
board and  the  sound  of  rasping  metal  showed  that  three 
men  instinctively  had  sought  for  the  sometimes  sad  utensil, 
and  that  it  was  in  hand. 

In  rapid  strides  of  exaggerated  length  the  punchers  ap- 
proached their  horses.  One  beast  shied  away,  but  stopped 
the  instant  there  rang  out  with  tinny  sound,  "Damn  you, 


THE  CATTLE  DRIVE  259 

Bronc,  quit  that,"  and  thereafter  the  brute  crouched  and 
trembled  and  made  no  opposition  to  taking  its  bit  and  sad- 
dle. Bits  were  driven  into  horses'  mouths  like  wedges  into 
split  logs.  No  effort  was  made  to  gather  in  cinches  and  off- 
side latigos,  to  lay  them  atop  the  saddles,  and  to  place  the 
latter  gently  on  the  ponies'  backs.  The  saddles,  each 
grasped  by  horn  and  cantle,  were  waved  in  air  to  straighten 
out  the  latigos,  and  were  slapped  onto  cringing  backs  with 
a  soimd  like  that  of  a  slatting  sail  on  a  windy  day. 

At  times  like  this  when  men  were  fierce  and  in  a  killing 
mood,  their  horses  seemed  to  sense  the  situation.  The  most 
chronic  buckers  would  forego  their  pitching  avocation,  and, 
squatting  low  in  tremor,  would  receive  their  load  and  never 
make  a  single  jump. 

The  camp  moved  out  to  waiting  Jack,  and  with  it  went 
the  two  clean  shirts,  each  clutched  against  a  rider's  chest. 

There  were  jerky,  vertical  single  nods  of  heads,  Jack 
supplementing  his  own  nod  by  one  later,  slow,  horizontal 
turning  of  his  head  to  right  and  then  to  left.  A  gentle  sigh 
rose  from  the  arriving  punchers,  two  hands  impotently 
opened  and  let  two  shirts  flutter  to  the  ground.  Jack's 
inquiring  look  was  answered  by  Ike's  slight  raising  of  the 
handle  of  the  shovel,  which  thus  far  he  had  endeavored  to 
conceal.  Then  came  the  first  spoken  words.  Jack  com- 
menced the  conversation,  and  in  part  it  ran:  ''He's  up  at 
the  end  of  the  big  draw,  right  by  the  split  rock.  Went 
over  that  high  cut  bank,  him  and  a  mess  of  cattle.  He's 
lyin'  under  'em.  He  never  knowed  what  hit  him.  .  .  . 
No,  I  warn't  with  him.  Just  now  seen  his  sign  as  I  was 
coming  acrost.  I  seen  it  was  headed  for  the  cut  bank, 
so  I  chass^d  over  there."  The  foreman  added:  ''Well, 
boys,  let's  get  at  it." 

Then  the  little  funeral  cortege,  having  silently  smoked  a 
cigarette  or  two,  fell  into  jiggling  trot  and  headed  for  the 
big  draw. 


260  THE  COWBOY 

The  funerals  of  the  men  who  died  in  this  way,  of  many 
Western  men,  were  deeply  affecting  from  their  crude,  sin- 
cere simpHcity.  About  the  open  grave,  which  was  at  merely 
"somewhere  on  the  plain,''  would  gather  a  serious-faced 
little  group.  The  body,  wrapped  in  a  saddle-blanket,  would 
be  lowered  gently  into  its  resting-place,  and  then  would 
come  a  pause.  Each  attendant  strongly  wished  that  some 
appropriate  statement  might  be  made  either  to  God  or 
about  the  dead;  but  each  man  felt  himself  unequal  to  the 
task,  and  stood  nervously  wiping  his  forehead.  Perhaps 
the  strain  wrung  from  some  one  person  a  sudden  ejacula- 
tion. If  so,  the  requirement  for  utterance  had  been  satis- 
fied, and  all  the  mourners  felt  a  buoyant  sense  of  relief.  If 
nobody  spoke,  some  wandering  eye  fastened  on  the  shovel. 
WTiether  by  the  ending  of  the  spoken  words  or  by  the  recog- 
nition of  the  spade,  the  signal  for  the  filling  of  the  grave 
had  come. 

Wlien  the  filled-in  earth  had  been  pounded  to  smoothness 
and  had  been  overlaid  with  rocks,  as  a  barrier  to  marauding 
animals,  it  was  time  to  leave.  That  parting  would  not  be 
accomplished  or  even  begun  until  there  had  terminated 
the  strained,  awkward  silence  under  which  most  American 
men  cloak  their  deeper  feelings.  The  silence  usually  was 
ended  by  an  expression  spontaneously  emitted  from  over- 
wrought nerves,  and  often  profane  in  form  though  not  in 
intent.  Speech  broke  the  tension,  horses  were  remounted, 
and  the  world  was  faced  again. 

At  the  foot  of  one  of  the  noblest  peaks  in  the  Rocky 
Mountains  lies  a  grave.  Its  occupant  died  in  a  stampede. 
All  that  was  said  at  the  interment  came  out  hesitatingly 
and  as  follows:  ''It's  too  bad,  too  bad.  Tom,  dig  a  little 
deeper  there.  Hell,  boys,  he  was  a  man,"  and  presently, 
when  the  burial  had  been  completed,  ''Bill,  we  boys  leave 
you  to  God  and  the  mountain.  Good-by,  Bill.  Damn  it, 
Jim,  look  out  for  your  bronc." 


THE  CATTLE  DRIVE  261 

Out  of  the  darkness  during  a  wild,  night  stampede  might 
vibrate  the  blood-curdhng  death  scream  of  a  mangled  horse. 
It  was  no  more  merry  in  tone  than  is  the  shriek  of  a  woman 
in  the  face  of  murder.  Nature  seems  to  have  invented 
various  horrid  sounds  for  the  final  leave-takings  of  the  sev- 
eral species  of  her  animal  subjects. 

From  the  insensate  milhng  of  frightened  bisons  came 
that  picturesque  Range  word  '^buffaloed/'  as  a  slangy 
synonym  for  mentally  confused. 

The  term  '^stampede"  too  was  picture-making,  coming 
as  it  did  from  the  Spanish  word  '^estampida/'  meaning  a 
crash  or  loud  noise. 

On  various  nights  our  punchers,  bound  townward  with 
their  cattle,  had  seen  the  distant  camp-fires  of  other  ''cow 
outfits,"  which  were  travelling  just  as  our  men  were;  but 
neither  our  punchers  nor  those  of  these  foreign  ''cow  camps" 
had  had  time  for  social  visits. 

The  punchers  of  one  of  these  outfits  caused,  one  day, 
our  punchers  much  trouble  and  some  anxiety  through  failure 
to  "hold"  the  former's  herd  until  our  men's  animals  had 
finished  drinking  at  a  waterhole.  The  alien  cattle,  pushing 
forward,  had  overrun  and  so  fully  melded  with  those  of 
our  men  that  it  had  taken  the  active  efforts  of  all  the  riders 
on  the  scene  to  cut  the  commingled  beasts  into  their  proper 
herds. 

Competent  punchers  upon  their  galloping  ponies  required 
but  little  time  for  separating  two  or  more  herds  that  thus 
had  tangled  themselves,  however  confusedly. 

But  our  men's  anxiety  had  had  real  foundation.  They 
had  feared  lest  their  weaker  animals — thes^  weakly  beasts 
naturally  had  been  the  last  to  drink — might  be  crushed  by 
the  thirst-maddened  brutes  advancing  from  the  strangers' 
bunch.  Not  uncommonly  at  drinking-places  in  dry  coun- 
tries driven  cattle  were  crowded  to  their  death  or  mortally 
trampled  under  foot  by  other  cattle  pushing  in  from  the  rear. 


262  THE  COWBOY 

Cattle,  when  loose  upon  the  Range,  and  on  then*  own  initi- 
ative seeking  drink,  performed  somewhat  curiously.  They 
would  suddenly  stop  eating,  would  raise  their  heads,  start 
on  a  trot,  steadily  increase  their  speed,  and  finally  would 
upon  a  gallop  arrive  at  the  waterhole.  They  quietly  would 
drink;  but,  when  satiated,  would  leave  as  precipitately  as 
they  had  come. 

Both  the  cattle  and  the  horses  in  driven  herds  required, 
because  of  the  sustained  effort  and  the  awful  dust,  more 
frequent  drink  than  when  the  beasts  were  shifting  for  them- 
selves. In  addition,  the  farther  they  were  bred  away  from 
the  original  'Vild"  blood,  the  more  often  they  demanded 
water.  Wild  horses  and  wild  cattle  during  a  drought  would 
wander  about  for  days  without  drinking,  and  would  keep 
ahve  even  though  thirst  might  both  swell  and  blacken  their 
tongues. 

Range  horses  and  Range  cattle,  when  loose  upon  the 
Range,  demanded,  for  keeping  in  good  condition,  access 
to  water  at  least  once  in  every  forty-eight  hours;  but  if 
called  upon  to  do  so,  could  withstand  thirst  for  a  number 
of  successive  days.  Many  of  the  beasts,  for  reasons  known 
only  to  themselves,  selected  for  their  habitual  grazing- 
grounds  tracts  far  from  any  waterhole,  and  so  had  regularly 
to  travel  miles  to  and  from  their  drinking  spot. 

The  recently  mentioned  hghts  of  ^'cow  camps,"  direct 
attention  to  an  inconsistency  in  American  English  where- 
by ''cow  camp"  labelled  a  merely  temporary  stopping- 
place,  although  ''mining  camp,"  denoted  a  lasting  settle- 
ment of  some  size.  But  should  a  "cow  camp"  attain  a 
substantial,  human  population  and  decide  to  root  itself 
in  permanently,  it  automatically  became  a  "cow  town." 

As  our  men's  cattle  were  so  numerous  as  to  fill  many 
railway-cars,  the  owners  of  the  beasts  would  send,  as  care- 
takers or  as  not  uncommonly  called  "horse  pushers"  or 
"bull  nurses,"  two  or  three  cowboys  with  the  shipment  to 


THE  CATTLE  DRIVE  263 

its  ultimate  destination,  the  abattoirs  of  Chicago,  Omaha, 
or  Kansas  City,  theoretically  to  tend  the  stock  en  route, 
practically  to  ride  all  the  way  in  the  caboose,  and  to  com- 
pare the  game  of  poker  as  developed  on  transportation  sys- 
tems with  that  evolved  upon  the  Range. 

But,  had  the  cattle  been  few  in  number,  the  brutes  would 
have  been  intrusted  on  the  journey  to  some  other  outfit^s 
punchers  bound  eastward  with  their  beeves. 

Perhaps,  upon  the  journey,  the  engineer  would  sight 
game  near  the  track,  and  would  stop  a  few  minutes  that 
the  occupants  of  the  caboose  might  stock  the  larder. 

Until  the  decade  of  the  nineties,  in  the  days  when  newly 
laid  tracks  and  hastily  built  bridges  not  infrequently  went 
to  pot,  and  made  the  time-table  a  nullity,  passenger-trains 
were  not  uncommonly  halted  for  this  same  purpose.  More 
than  one  now  living  person  can  recall  that,  even  upon  the 
Overland  Limited,  there  has  been  a  sudden  stop,  and  that 
presently  thereafter  the  conductor  has  announced  in  each 
car:  ''Gents,  the  dining-car  is  short  on  meat.  The  engineer 
has  just  'raised'  a  band  of  antelope.  If  there  is  any  ranch- 
men or  hunting-parties  present  that  has  Winchesters,  will 
they  oblige?"  With  due  warning  of  such  impending 
famine,  a  prudent  conductor  occasionally  would  break  the 
news  that  the  dining-car  was  "ate  out,''  and  then  add:  "Will 
ranchmen  and  hunting-parties  with  rifles  please  obhge  by 
moving  forward  to  the  baggage-car?  We're  just  about 
entering  the  antelope  country."  This  anabasis  expedited 
stalking,  and  produced  through  machine-gun  effect  a  more 
telling  fire. 

On  one  occasion,  a  Northern  Pacific  train,  which  had 
for  several  days  been  stalled  by  a  washout,  began  eventually 
its  hungry  journey  along  a  bank  of  the  Yellowstone  River. 
Above  the  river,  flocks  of  geese  for  several  miles  flew  parallel 
with  the  railway-track.  By  the  conductor's  invitation,  the 
baggage-car  had  been  temporarily  converted  into  a  moving 


264  THE  COWBOY 

shooting-lodge.  Every  time  a  shot  goose  dropped  in  shal- 
low water,  the  train  stopped. 

Not  infrequently  ranchmen  '^ obliged''  by  alighting  from 
a  train,  and  killing  such  cattle  as  had  wandered  into  a  rail- 
way cut  and  been  injured  by  the  train. 

Punchers,  when  bound  for  the  Eastern  abattoirs,  scorned 
to  pack  their  spare  belongings  into  gunny  'Var  sacks," 
and  provided  themselves  at  the  '^ general  store"  with 
''boughten"  bags  of  carpet  or  of  imitation  leather,  bags 
such  as  urban  folk  then  employed.  These  new  receptacles 
the  punchers  often  termed  ^'go-easters." 

In  the  youth  of  the  cattle  industry,  long  railway  trips 
were  infrequent  for  the  ranchmen,  because  at  that  time 
delivery  often  was  made  at  the  local  railroad  shipping-point. 
There  the  animals  were  received  as  so  many  ^'head,"  or, 
if  on  the  basis  of  weight,  then  in  terms  of  estimated  pounds, 
and  when  once  so  delivered,  passed  out  of  the  field  of  the 
ranchmen's  hability  and  into  the  purgatory  of  foodless, 
waterless  miles  of  bumping  railway  journey. 

Then  came  the  decent  laws  which  required,  upon  the 
cars,  fodder,  periodical  halts  for  drink  and  rest,  and  con- 
sequent necessity  for  human  attendants;  and  came  also 
the  habit  of  requiring  deUvery  to  be  made  at  the  abattoirs, 
with  weights  determined  by  their  scales. 

Let  us  follow  the  punchers  to  Chicago  or  wherever. 
Hours,  not  days,  after  reaching  the  destination,  there  almost 
always  arose  ample  basis  for  that  moot  subject  of  school- 
day  debates:  ^' Which  can  the  better  care  for  himself,  the 
city  boy  in  the  country  or  the  country  boy  in  the  city?" 
Montana,  Idaho,  Oregon,  Wyoming,  Colorado,  Texas,  New 
Mexico,  Arizona,  and  old  Dakota  have  seen  their  sons  taken 
unawares,  black-jacked  and  felled  in  the  slums  of  the  slaugh- 
ter-house cities  of  the  Middle  West. 

However,  for  this  the  Far  West  never  attempted  to  re- 
taliate upon  strangers  within  its  borders.    Whoever  hunted 


THE  CATTLE  DRIVE  265 

there  for  trouble  could  find  it,  but  trouble  usually  was  re- 
served for  the  exclusive  use  of  such  as  sought  it.  The  Range 
may  have  been  untutored  in  Old  World  drawing-room  con- 
ventions, but  it  was  humanly  decent  and  hiunanly  generous. 
It  roughly  hazed  newcomers  only  when  by  superciliousness 
they  impHedly  asked  for  the  treatment,  though  the  askers 
received  at  least  all  they  had  requested.  Such  newcomers 
as,  instead  of  having  positive  quality  and  being  affirmatively 
disagreeable,  were  of  negative  worth  and  merely  not  agree- 
able were  not  overtly  assailed.  Simply  they  were  ignored 
and  were  left  to  wither  away  from  ostracism. 

A  stone  went  under  the  saddle-blanket  of  such  only  as 
did  not  meet  the  West  eye  to  eye.  The  tenderfoot  who 
could  not  ride,  had  the  courage  to  announce  it,  and  was  a 
man,  was  given  at  the  ranches  horses  ashamed  to  buck.  A 
man,  who  was  of  the  same  manly  ilk,  who  for  moral  reasons 
did  not  wish  to  drink  alcohol,  but  did  not  make  unctuous 
advertisement  of  personal  piety,  could  walk  into  any  saloon 
in  any  settlement  in  the  Cattle  Country,  and,  save  in  the 
rarest  of  cases,  be  as  happily  treated  over  his  glass  of  water 
as  he  would  have  been  had  he  asked  for  '^red  eye." 

However,  there  was  one  thing  which  that  tenderfoot 
could  not  safely  attempt.  This  was  peremptorily  handing 
his  coat  to  a  Westerner  to  carry.  Throughout  the  Range 
such  an  offer  was  construed  as  an  affirmative  attack  upon 
personal  dignity,  and  beyond  that  upon  the  very  democracy 
of  the  West. 

The  phrase  ''humanly  decent,"  when  used  above,  bore 
no  relation  to  the  question  as  to  whether  or  not  the  men 
of  the  Range  were  any  more  devoted  to  the  urban  ''red- 
fight  districts"  than  were  their  Eastern  brothers.  They 
were  not  so,  if  the  testimony  of  many  old-timers  be  credible. 

Admittedly,  at  the  end  of  lengthy  cattle  drives,  notably 
that  of  the  Texas  Trail,  the  attendant  riders,  as  a  rebound 
from  protracted,  gruelfing  duties,  were  prone  to  engage 


266  THE  COWBOY 

in  orgies.  Dodge  City,  Abilene,  Newton,  and  their  sister 
cow  towns  standing  at  the  end  of  the  long  trail  were,  foi 
the  dusty,  tired,  jubilant,  arriving  puncher,  relatively  the 
same  as  for  years  was  Paris  to  the  ocean-crossing  American 
— license  rather  than  a  place. 

Morality  with  many  a  man  was  local.  He  might  refuse 
to  foul  his  own  nest;  yet,  when  travelUng  far  away  from 
it,  his  restrictive  decency  was  apt  to  decrease  in  ratio  with 
the  square  of  the  distance.  As  Smoke  Murphy  said  at  Jules- 
burg:  ''Many  a  virtuous  polar  bear  raises  hell  on  the  equa- 
tor.'^ 

But  long  drives  were,  for  any  given  man,  unless  he  be- 
longed to  the  small  coterie  that  specialized  upon  Texas 
Trail  work,  only  an  occasional  function.  For  the  most 
part  of  his  time  he  stayed  comparatively  near  home,  and 
home  as  such,  however  simple,  were  it  only  a  one-man  dug- 
out, ever  had  compeUing  moral  effect. 

West  was,  as  regards  its  eastern  boundary,  a  relative 
term.  For  the  purposes  of  this  writing,  the  West  is  taken 
as  the  country  ''west  of  the  Missouri  River,"  i.  e.,  west- 
ward of  approximately  the  meridian  of  Omaha,  Nebraska; 
but  that  country  also  had  its  intersectional  comparisons. 
With  a  peg  driven  into  the  ground  at  any  point  in  the  United 
States  westward  of  the  Mississippi  River,  one  found,  as  one 
still  finds,  all  persons  living  on  the  sunset  side  of  that  peg 
regarding  all  transpeg  people  as  Easterners.  Colorado  has 
ever  been  "back  East"  to  Arizona. 

The  interchangeable  phrases  "west  of  the  Missouri 
River,"  "west  of  the  Missouri,"  and  "west  of  the  river" 
(with  simon-pure  old-timers  the  Missouri  was  merely  "the 
river")  had  a  very  definite  meaning  in  the  Cattle  Country. 
The  ferries  from  present  Council  Bluffs,  Iowa,  to  the  site  of 
present  Omaha,  and  from  first  Independence  or  Westport, 
and  later  "St.  Joe,"  to  the  Kansan  shore,  were  the  means 
by  which  many  of  the  westward-bound  Forty-Niners  and 


THE  CATTLE  DRI\^  267 

their  followers  crossed  the  Missouri  River.  It  was  there 
that  these  gold-seekers  left  their  '^States/'  and  entered  their 
''West."  It  was  these  gold-seekers  who  made  that  phrase 
''west  of  the  Missouri."  The  point  which  they  thus  fixed 
as  the  one  to  mark  where  the  West  began  stayed  put,  but 
presently  there  extended  from  it  a  north  and  south  Une  that 
reached  to  Canada  and  to  the  GuK  of  Mexico.  All  the  area 
westward  of  that  imaginary  line  was  said  to  be  "west  of 
the  Missouri  River,"  even  though  Dakota  for  much  of  its 
territory  was  in  fact  eastward  of  the  actual  stream. 

In  addition  to  the  almost  constant  driving  of  myriad 
northbound  cattle  along  the  Texas  Trail,  there  were  some- 
times, within  the  North  itself,  prolonged  movements  "upon 
the  hoof."  These  latter  hegiras  sprang  out  of  exaggerated, 
though  temporary,  differences  between  the  conditions  in 
various  localities.  A  drought-made  differential  between 
Oregon  and,  say,  Wyoming,  or  between  Wyoming  and,  say, 
Dakota,  occasionally  made  it  advisable  to  drive  Uve  stock 
many  hundreds  of  miles  in  order  to  reach  an  unscorched 
refuge.  Thus,  for  instance,  animals  have  been  herded  out 
of  eastern  Oregon  and  into  Wyoming  or  Montana,  while 
again  Wyoming's  ranchmen  have  forced  their  thirsty  herds 
out  of  the  latter's  home  lands  and  across  the  map  to  western 
Kansas.  WTien  planning  these  intrasectional  transfers, 
care  was  taken  that,  so  far  as  possible,  the  animals  involved 
should  not  finally  be  landed  unduly  far  from  the  line  of 
their  normal  course  to  market. 

The  bovine  victims  of  a  long,  long  trail  were,  when  leav- 
ing Texas,  known  there  as  "coasters,"  but  after  they  had 
reached  the  Northwest  they  were  called  in  the  latter  sec- 
tion "pilgrims."  No  special  name  attached  to  the  suffer- 
ing animals  that  ploughed  through  dust  to  escape  from  a 
blighted  Northern  Range. 

The  brutes'  plodding  journey  upon  all  these  drives  was 
in  details  like  the  already  described  trek  from  the  round- 


268  THE  COWBOY 

up  to  the  railway — like  it,  save  in  three  regards.  To  make 
fair  comparison,  one  must  multiply  by  ten,  if  not  by  twenty, 
all  the  distances,  all  the  fatigue,  all  the  vexation  accorded 
to  the  shorter  expedition.  It  took  five  months  to  make  a 
drive  from  the  Rio  Grande  straight  northward  to  the  Cana- 
dian border.  Then  one,  while  recalling  the  Texas  Trail, 
should  at  times  increase  the  herd's  size  to  four  thousand, 
even  to  ten  thousand,  animals;  should  not  forget  those 
strenuous  periods,  each  of  at  least  two  days,  when  below 
the  Colorado  River,  again  between  the  Stinking  Water 
and  the  South  Platte,  and  again  below  the  Tongue  River, 
the  punchers,  on  leaving  one  river,  deliberately  prevented 
their  animals  from  satisfyingly  drinking  there,  in  order  that 
mad  lust  for  water  might  hold  these  animals  to  a  steady 
march  through  the  semidesert  that  lay  before  the  next  en- 
countered stream;  and  finally  not  only  one  should  bear  in 
mind  the  distressing  possibility  of  having  to  drive,  across  a 
sun-blistered  country,  cattle  temporarily  blinded  by  thirst 
and  frenzied  in  their  blindness,  but  also  one  must  remember 
the  strain  of  '^ swimming"  the  charges  across  a  swollen  river. 

Though  the  ''swim"  was  not  encountered  on  many  of 
the  shorter  drives,  it  was  met  on  some  of  them,  as  it  was 
upon  all  of  the  long-distance  hikes.  It  was  no  event  for 
weakhngs. 

Hundreds  of  driven  cattle  were  walking  in  a  column 
nearly  a  mile  in  length,  and  of  irregular  formation  like  scat- 
tered leaves  blown  slowly  across  a  lawn.  Their  van  reached 
the  stream's  bank.  Singly,  in  pairs,  or  in  somewhat  larger 
groups,  the  forward  animals  broke  from  their  formation, 
lumbered  down  the  bank,  trotted  across  the  sand-bar  at 
its  foot,  and  finally  side  to  side  stood  to  mid-knee  in  the 
water,  muzzles  immersed. 

Cowboy  strategists  selected  from  the  line  of  drinking 
beasts  one  or  two  steers  that  promised  courage  and  quali- 
ties of  leadership,  rode  quietly  into  position  behind  them, 


THE  CATTLE  DRIVE  269 

and  as  they  raised  their  heads,  urged  them  farther  into  the 
stream,  thus  into  '^swimming  water";  and,  by  heading  all 
attempts  to  deviate  from  the  course  prescribed,  achieved 
the  satisfaction  of  seeing  brown  bodies  churn  wakes  which 
pointed  directly  at  the  opposite  shore.  A  few  adventurous 
brutes,  of  their  own  volition,  followed  these  leaders;  and, 
once  all  these  pioneers  showed  their  dripping,  gUstening 
bodies  on  the  farther  shore,  the  herd  automatically  and  in 
tenuous  line  passed  down  the  hither  bank,  into  the  water 
and  across  it. 

The  line  once  established,  there  was  Uttle  risk  that  the 
marching  column  would  rebound  from  the  stream  and  scat- 
ter over  the  prairie.  So,  for  the  quiet,  seductive  methods 
necessary  to  institute  the  crossing,  there  safely  could  now 
be  substituted  more  overt  and  violent  means  to  speed  the 
rate  and  to  force  participation  by  slothful  or  timid  beasts. 

'^Starting  the  swim''  was  an  anxious  task,  for  if  the 
selected  leaders  were  to  outwit  the  men  and  succeed  in 
'^doubhng  back,"  either  before  leaving  the  hither  shore  or 
after  fairly  entering  the  water,  it  would  mean  an  immediate 
stampede,  wherein  the  steadily  arriving  cattle,  on  reaching 
the  water's  edge,  would  swerve  from  it  and  pursue  the  brutes 
which,  though  a  moment  before  ahead  of  them,  already 
would  have  similarly  turned  and  now  would  be  galloping 
inland;  or  else  it  would  mean  at  the  riverside  an  interweav- 
ing jam  of  nervous  animals  steadily  mushrooming  from  the 
forward  pressure  of  the  still-arriving  column,  and  ready 
at  any  instant  to  ''spHt,"  i.  e.,  to  form  like  a  capital  letter 
''Y,"  and  to  launch  a  stampede  from  the  tip  of  each  of  the 
prongs. 

As  soon  as  the  continuity  of  the  line  was  assured,  a  cow- 
boy or  two  plunged  their  horses  into  the  water,  made  their 
way  to  the  opposite  shore,  and  set  about  clearing  it  of  its 
clogging  cattle  and  marshalling  them  in  marching  order 
upon  the  plain  beyond.    The  rest  of  the  punchers  so  timed 


270  THE  COWBOY 

their  own  crossings  as  to  make  them  in  proper  relation  to 
the  varying  sizes  of  the  two  sections  of  the  stream-divided 
herd. 

Some  of  the  men,  preferring  sureness  to  comfort,  made 
while  in  the  water  no  change  in  their  riding  position,  and 
^^swimmmg  wet,"  landed  with  clothing  dripping  to  half-way 
between  knee  and  hip.  Others,  more  finical,  bent  their 
knees  and  raised  their  feet  to  a  kneeling  pose  with  spurs 
touching  the  cantle.  A  rider  of  the  latter  type  ran  the  risk 
of  being  unbalanced  by  an  unexpected  eddy  or  a  bumping 
steer,  and  thereby  of  rolling  his  top  heavily  burdened  horse 
directly  upon  its  side;  or  else,  upon  like  collision  and 
through  instinctive  and  unfortunate  pull  upon  the  reins, 
of  rearing  his  horse,  to  have  it  madly  splash  its  front  legs 
and  then  flop  sideways.  A  successful  grab  of  a  stirrup  or, 
better  still,  of  a  tail's  end  would  give  this  hapless  rider  an 
efficient  tow  to  safety. 

The  men's  famiharity  with  this  '' crossing,"  as  the  West 
termed  a  ford,  as  well  as  the  act  of  traversing  it,  relieved 
them  from  any  anxiety  about  possible  quicksands.  Had 
not  every  square  inch  of  the  shores  been  known  to  the 
punchers,  they  would  have  '^scouted"  both  banks  before 
the  herd's  arrival.  The  treacherous  sands  of  many  a  West- 
ern stream  have  swallowed  many  a  horse  or  steer,  and  many 
a  solitary  cowboy  has  been  eaten  alive  by  the  very  land 
he  loved.  The  only  remedy  for  quicksand  was  a  lariat  and 
a  tugging  pony. 

Fortunately,  during  the  crossing,  there  had  occurred  no 
untoward  event  to  drive  into  panic  the  swimming  portion 
of  the  herd  and  impel  it  to  suicide  through  self-devised  mill- 
ing in  midstream.  No  low-lying  sun  had  shone  directly 
into  the  animals'  eyes.  No  Indians  had  attacked  the  opera- 
tion, no  bear  or  wolf  had  appeared  upon  the  farther  shore; 
no  stick  unexpectedly  had  cracked ;  no  fantastically  shaped 
log  had  floated  down  the  channel;   nothing  had  happened 


THE  CATTLE  DRIVE  271 

to  check  the  nautical  pioneers,  to  break  the  brown  thread 
which  they  drew  behind  them,  and  to  send  the  hving  con- 
tents of  the  river,  first  into  a  crazed,  revolving  mel6e,  and 
next  into  brown  carcasses  which  would  bob  in  the  current 
until  disgusted  waters  spewed  out  the  carrion  upon  a  sand- 
bar. 

Had  milling  started  in  the  stream,  mounted  punchers 
and  the  ponies  imder  them  would  have  done  their  best  to 
struggle  through  the  whirling  mess,  to  break  its  motion, 
to  resolve  its  participants  into  a  sane,  straight  line,  and 
to  connect  that  line's  front  end  with  the  desired  shore.  A 
pony  might  be  crushed,  might  have  his  trappings  entangled 
in  the  horns  of  a  sinking  steer,  but  the  plucky  little  horse 
preferred  excitement  to  ennui.  A  rider  might  meet  with 
similar  catastrophe.  Yet,  because  of  the  self-sufiiciency  of 
punchers,  usually  the  worst  that  befell  a  man  in  breaking 
a  mill  was  to  be  capsized  from  his  mount  and  to  go  ashore 
upon  a  steer's  back  or  by  holding  the  end  of  its  tail. 

Horses,  save  in  the  very  rarest  of  instances,  had  too  much 
sense  to  mill  in  water  or  even  on  land.  When  they,  however, 
did  embark  on  it,  their  action  was  technically  called  not 
"milling,"  but  instead  ''rounding-up,"  just  as  it  was  in  the 
case  of  their  interweavings  upon  land  when  being  forced 
by  cowboys  to  shift  from  a  scattered  formation  into  a  com- 
pact band.  To  the  cattle  was  given  a  monopoly  of  the  term 
^'mill.'' 

If  by  chance  a  railway  skirted  the  river,  either  upon  its 
farther  bank  or  at  but  little  inland  distance  from  it,  there 
very  possibly  was  an  occurrence  such  as  one  never  sees  in 
these  present  days  of  fenced  farms. 

The  moment  the  first  steer  entered  the  water,  the  entire 
herd  was,  by  inviolate  custom,  vested  with  the  right  of 
way  over  every  train,  and  this  right  continued  until  the 
fording  was  completed.  The  locomotive's  whistle  was  of 
no  interest  to  the  cowboys.    They  knew  that  the  engineer, 


272  THE  COWBOY 

with  eyes  out  for  swimming  herds,  under  strictest  orders 
not  to  damage  future  freight  or  to  antagonize  its  owners 
and  their  kind,  would  come  to  a  complete  stop  so  far  away 
from  the  scene  of  ferrying  as  not  to  lend  his  train  to  the 
starting  of  a  stampede.  Thus  railways  frequently  were 
blocked,  and  for  hours  at  a  time,  because  in  days  now  past, 
*' cattle  was  king." 

The  profanity  which  poured  from  the  opened  windows 
of  the  cars  and  from  the  engine's  cab  melted  into  the  low- 
ing of  such  cattle  as  had  made  the  passage  and  into  the 
bellowing  of  those  yet  to  essay  it.  The  cowboys,  indifferent 
to  the  noise  and  their  fellow  man's  impatience,  stuck  to 
their  own  swimming  job. 

A  northbound,  Texan  herd,  once  clear  of  the  Panhandle, 
had  an  excellent  chance  of  being  held  temporarily  at  any 
spot  upon  its  route  by  a  quarantine  against  '^ Texas  fever," 
''Spanish  fever,"  or  ''splenic  fever,"  according  as  the  local 
veterinarian  chose  to  entitle  that  endemic  disease.  Then 
the  punchers  in  charge  of  the  beasts  had  an  enforced  halt 
of  not  less  than  sixty  days,  and  so  for  at  least  sixty  days  im- 
patient men  practised  swearing. 

The  fevered  Texan  cattle,  so  soon  as  they  reached  a 
Northern  latitude,  quickly  ridded  themselves  of  their  ail- 
ment; but  if  not  held  in  quarantine,  the  beasts  would  seed 
mile  after  mile  of  trail  with  pestilential  germs  that  would 
lie  in  wait  for  uninoculated  animals. 

Some  States  permanently  maintained  for  their  entire 
areas  a  quarantine  of  definite  period.  In  other  States,  the 
quarantine  was  intermittent  and  sometimes  was  limited  to 
a  particular  zone. 

Commercial  profit  proved  for  the  great  majority  of 
ranchers  a  term  of  purely  academic  meaning.  Taxless  graz- 
ing-lands  made  possible  large  profits,  if — .  High  selHng 
prices  potentiaUzed  great  earnings,  if — .  The  "if"  was 
the  drought  or  the  snow-storm.    The  profits  of  the  fat  years 


THE  CATTLE  DRIVE  273 

went  into  high  living  or  into  additions  to  the  live  stock. 
If  into  high  living,  they  disappeared  immediately.  If  into 
additions  to  the  live  stock,  their  days  were  longer  but 
usually  were  numbered.  In  the  latter  case,  ordinarily 
sooner  or  later  the  profits  and  capital  lay  side  by  side, 
parched  bodies  on  the  sand  or  bloated  carcasses  appearing 
from  the  snow  according  as  the  ranch  was  in  the  South  or 
in  the  North. 

But  no  man  who  ever  lived  upon  the  Range  regretted 
later  that  he  had  had  that  residential  privilege. 


CHAPTER  XIV 

BREAKING  HORSES 

COW-PONIES — ^DEFINITIONS — BREAKING  HORSES — BUCKING — EQUINE  OUT- 
LAWS— MAN  KILLERS — DANGER  FROM  CATTLE — SPOILED  HORSES — ^MORE 
ABOUT  BUCKING — ITS  DANGER — LYING  DOWN — RUNAWAYS — METHODS  OF 
RIDING  BUCK — "HUNTING  LEATHER" — REASON  FOR  BUCKING — EUROPEAN 
HORSES — PRESENT-DAY  EXHIBITIONS — HORSE  DRIVE — VISIT  TO  TOWN — 
MONEY — CONVENTIONS  ON  ENTERING  TOWN — SHOOTING-UP  TOWN — BUY- 
ING IT — DEPARTURE  FROM  TOWN 

These  pages  thus  far,  though  having  seen  the  cattle 
rounded  up,  branded,  driven  to  the  railway  and  delivered 
at  the  abattoir,  and  though  having  also  seen  the  horses 
rounded  up  and  branded,  have  failed  to  watch  the  later 
doings  with  the  horses,  for,  in  a  prior  chapter,  they  wan- 
dered off  with  cattle,  and  left  the  horses  imprisoned  within 
the  rodeo  corral. 

During  this  absence,  the  "stray  horses"  had  been  started 
on  their  homeward  routes,  and  the  remaining  horses  had 
been  divided  into  separate  bands  according  to  their  several 
ownerships.  Each  owner,  from  his  band  thus  obtained, 
had  selected  the  animals  to  be  sold,  and  also  a  few  choice 
specimens,  the  latter  all  "top"  beasts,  all  suitable  it  was 
thought  for  training  into  cow-ponies  to  be  used  at  home. 
Each  of  these  choice  specimens  was  small,  patently  sound 
in  body  and  quick  of  foot,  and  apparently  promised  intel- 
ligence and  a  sporting  taste.  Well-trained  cow-ponies  were 
regarded  as  aristocrats.  They  brought  prices  three  times 
that  of  well-broken  but  more  commonplace  Range  horses. 

The  term  "pony"  did  not  necessarily  suggest  diminutive- 
ness,  because  the  Northwest  gave  the  title  of  "pony"  to 
almost  every  horse  regardless  of  its  size,  and  in  fact  ex- 

274 


BREAKING  HORSES  276 

empted  from  the  ''pony''  class  only  ''work  horses,"  and 
such  brutes  as  by  despicable  viciousness  merited  the  ap- 
pellation of  "that  damned  cayuse." 

A  horse  that  could  travel  notably  far,  particularly  when 
at  high  speed,  was  termed  a  "long  horse."  Consequently, 
the  best  stayer  in  one's  band  would  be  called  one's  "longest 
horse."  There  was  no  such  phrase  as  ''  long  pony,"  though 
any  given  animal  might  coincidently  be  both  a  "cow-pony" 
and  a  "long  horse." 

Ponies  have  been  mentioned  as  participating  not  only 
in  cutting  out  and  cutting  in  but  also  in  roping.  All  these 
functions  were  exercised  by  members  of  the  class  of  "cow- 
pony,"  or  "cow-horse." 

One  pony  might  be  particularly  good  at  cutting  out  and 
in,  a  fast  runner  in  a  spurt,  but  either  a  bit  shy  of  a  thrown 
lariat,  or  not  expert  in  doing  his  part  after  the  reata  had 
made  its  catch.  Nevertheless,  he  might  be  invaluable  in 
driving  stock,  despite  his  restricted  usefulness  in  the  game 
played  in  the  corral.  Another  pony,  perfect  at  the  roping 
work,  might  be  slow  in  a  dash  to  head  stock  running  in  the 
open;  but,  notwithstanding  this,  he  might  be  capital  for 
business  within  the  corral.  Some  ponies  did  all  things  well, 
and  they  were  regarded  as  being  of  almost  royal  rank. 

As  a  result  of  this  lack  of  uniformity  in  the  horses'  quali- 
fications, to  an  efficient  cowboy  on  a  large  ranch  were  as- 
signed several  ponies,  one  animal  for  one  class  of  work, 
another  for  another.  To  such  a  cowboy  was  assigned  also 
a  horse  of  less  attaiimaent,  and  this  beast  was  used  in  the 
commonplace  errand-running  rides  of  the  every-day.  The 
various  animals  allotted  to  a  man,  however  humble  he  might 
be,  were  left  severely  alone  by  all  other  men  on  the  ranch; 
and  the  horses'  assignee,  so  long  as  he  rode  for  the  ranch, 
was  sole  lord  of  his  string. 

Having  ostensibly  "gentled"  at  the  rodeo  corral  the 
few  inferior  horses  that  it  was  desired  should  hurriedly  be 


276  THE  COWBOY 

put  through  at  least  a  faint  color  of  breaking,  in  order  to 
be  able  to  make  immediate  delivery  to  a  none-too-discern- 
ing buyer,  the  punchers  landed  these  beasts  at  their  destina- 
tion, and  drove  the  remaining  animals  to  the  corrals  at  the 
ranch-house.  In  and  about  these  latter  corrals  would  be 
selected  and,  during  the  ensuing  months,  would  be  more 
or  less  carefully  broken  such  of  the  horses  as  were  to  be  kept 
as  cow-ponies  or  were  to  be  sold  as  really  ''gen tied"  ani- 
mals. They  would  stay  in  the  corrals  at  night,  and,  when 
not  being  handled,  would  browse  under  mounted  guards 
upon  the  open  prairie  during  the  day. 

The  hurried  ''gentling''  at  the  rodeo  corral  brought  out 
the  nearest  approach  to  "rough  riding"  that  well-managed 
ranches  would  permit.  The  reason  for  this  bit  of  laxity 
at  the  corral  was  that  nobody  seriously  cared  whether 
the  second-rate  brutes  involved — all  veritable  culls — were 
spoiled  or  not.  So  the  punchers,  both  local  and  visiting, 
made  a  bit  of  a  lark  of  the  affair,  and  somewhat  reverted 
to  the  same  active  use  of  quirt  and  spur  as  that  from  which 
the  wild  horses  of  early  days  had  suffered. 

Because  there  were  present  men  from  various  ranches, 
competition  in  horsemanship  occasionally  displayed  itself, 
and  then  the  rail-birds,  with  strong  partisanship,  wagered 
heavily  on  the  various  competitors. 

There  was  not  much  spectacular  roping  of  the  horses 
driven  for  breaking  processes  to  the  corrals  near  the  ranch- 
house,  for  the  horses  gentled  there  represented  the  best 
quality  that  the  ranch  could  boast,  and  were  not  jeopardized. 
With  a  well-managed  establishment,  there  never  was  any- 
where more  rough  roping  than  had  to  be,  except  that  occa- 
sionally at  a  round-up  a  puncher  might  for  a  while  cut  loose. 

Grown  horses  in  process  of  breaking  were  thrown  by  the 
lariat,  only  when  necessity  demanded.  More  commonly, 
with  neck  through  the  reata's  loop,  they  pranced  about  at 
its  extremity  like  kites  in  a  storm.    The  reata  was  gradually 


BREAKING  HORSES  277 

gathered  in  and  the  man  at  its  home  end  presently  found 
himseK  holding  a  rope  of  controlling  length  and  within 
handhng  distance  of  the  captive. 

Next  the  hackamore  was  shown  the  trembling  animal, 
and  was  girt  upon  his  head,  to  rest  there  a  haK  hour  or  so. 

That  same  day  or  later,  similar  exhibition  was  made  of 
the  saddle.  It  was  placed  as  gently  as  possible  upon  a 
twitching  back,  and  the  cinches,  after  being  circumspectly 
and  successfully  fished  for,  were  as  quietly  as  might  be  made 
fast.  A  long  crooked  stick  was  most  convenient  for  this 
fishing  operation,  because  at  times  the  air  was  quite  full  of 
hoofs. 

After  the  horse  had  become  accustomed  to  the  feeling 
of  the  hackamore  and  saddle,  a  matter  of  minutes  and  a 
soUtary  saddling,  or  of  a  day  or  two  and  repeated  saddHngs, 
a  rider  mounted  him. 

Later  the  beast  was,  with  similar  consideration,  intro- 
duced to  the  bit. 

The  reason  for  this  quasi-tenderness  was  that  the  object 
of  most  ranchmen  was  not  to  make  horses  buck,  but  to 
keep  them  from  doing  so.  The  cowboy  was  hired,  so  far 
as  concerned  horses,  not  to  inculcate  but  to  discourage  pitch- 
ing. He  was  paid  to  turn  for  his  employer  unbroken  horse- 
flesh into  money,  and  the  buying  public  ordinarily  would 
not  exchange  its  dollars  for  useless,  vertical  motion.  Hence, 
one  ordinarily  saw  about  a  well-managed  ranch  only  the 
bucking  that  could  not  be  avoided.  One  saw  much  of  af- 
firmative efforts  to  wean  a  horse  from  the  habit.  There 
were  of  course  exceptions,  but  the  number  of  ''rough  rid- 
ing''  men  was  comparatively  small. 

The  foregoing  account  of  breaking  horses  sets  forth  the 
method  employed  by  the  majority  of  the  ranchers  after 
the  first  years  of  the  Range,  when  ''busting  wide  open'* 
by  "quirting  a  plenty,"  and  "shoving  in  the  steel,"  were 
the  accepted  means  of  gentling,  though  it  should  be  re- 


278  THE  COWBOY 

membered  that  these  later  ranchers  dealt  principally  with 
the  ''graded  horse/ ^  while  the  earlier  stockmen  had  httle 
save  the  unmixed  wild  horse. 

The  rough  rider's  object  was  to  ''break  the  pony's  heart/' 
on  the  first  riding;  for,  if  then  the  idea  of  human  supremacy 
could  be  impressed  upon  an  animal  physically  exhausted 
by  its  own  efforts  to  the  point  of  staggering,  mentally  de- 
jected from  the  failure  of  its  confident  expectation,  it  was 
almost  a  surety  that  the  pony  never  again  would  make  so 
violent  an  effort.  True,  it  might  buck  again  and  often,  but 
never  again  so  fiercely.  The  latent  dread  of  man  would 
cloud  every  subsequent  plan  to  pitch.  To  create  this  dread, 
the  rough-riding  buster  brought  down  the  quirt  at  every 
jump  the  pony  made. 

These  rough  riders  usually  were  either  owners  of  small 
ranches,  or  else  were  men  who,  as  itinerant  "contract  bus- 
ters," wandered  about  the  Range  and  temporarily  leased 
their  services  to  such  estabhshments  as  could  not  afford 
to  maintain  a  first-class  rider  of  their  own.  These  busters 
received  five  dollars  for  each  animal  they  "busted," 
"broke,"  "peeled,"  "twisted,"  or  "gentled,"  according  as 
one  termed  the  operation. 

The  method  of  these  men  was  to  intimidate,  first,  by 
roping  and  violently  throwing  the  brute  entrusted  to  them, 
next  and  as  soon  as  the  saddle  was  in  position,  by  whole- 
sale use  of  the  quirt,  a  lashing  which  on  occasion  was  aug- 
mented by  the  whips  and  howls  of  assistant  terrorists,  some- 
times called  "hazers."  When  the  men's  arms  grew  tired 
and  it  was  agreed  that  the  pony  was  in  chastened  mood, 
the  buster  mounted ;  and,  if  the  welted  animal  made  serious 
effort  to  pitch,  the  quirting  commenced  anew. 

The  buster  might  do  the  initial  riding  with  one  of  the 
cruel  bits  described  in  former  pages,  but  he  was  more  apt 
to  use  at  first  a  "hackamore"  rigged  with  a  "bosal,"  and 
to  reserve  the  bit  for  a  later  lesson. 


BREAKING  HORSES  279 

The  buster  frequently  extended  his  training  beyond  the 
moments  that  he  himself  was  in  the  saddle,  because,  after 
dismounting,  he  was  apt  to  leave  or  place  upon  the  pony's 
head  a  hackamore,  and  to  fasten  its  reins  to  the  end  of  a 
long  rope  affixed  to  a  peg  driven  in  the  ground,  thus  to  the 
end  of  what  was  called  by  Southerners  a  '^stake-rope,''  by 
Northerners  a  ''picket-rope."  With  or  without  encourage- 
ment from  the  hazers,  the  fastened  horse  was  wont  to  run 
to  the  end  of  his  tether,  to  have  his  wind  suddenly  cut  by 
the  pinching  hackamore,  and,  at  the  rope's  terminal,  to 
somersault  onto  his  back.  This  action  might  be  repeated 
several  times  before  the  animal  desisted. 

He  very  hkely  also  sooner  or  later  thoroughly  entangled 
his  feet  in  the  rope,  and  so  rubbed  bits  of  skin  off  his 
legs. 

By  plenteous  quirting  and  the  stake  rope's  aid,  the 
buster  endeavored  to  inculcate  "fear  of  leather,"  and  dread 
of  "running  against  rope." 

If  the  gentled  animal  were  to  be  sold  to  strangers,  two 
days  of  such  rough  treatment  might  suffice  to  satisfy  the 
conscience  of  the  ranch,  but  if  the  beast  were  to  be  used 
at  home,  it  would  receive  a  week  of  training  and  abuse. 

The  intelligent,  orderly  method  which  is  first  above  de- 
scribed, and  which  did  not  avoid  firmness  though  it  at- 
tempted to  abolish  cruelty,  should  not  be  confused  with 
the  affectionate,  misguided,  and  desultory  schooling  occa- 
sionally given  by  amateurs  and  productive  of  one  of  the 
meanest,  most  unreliable  objects  in  the  Cattle  Country — a 
"pet  horse." 

Although  the  decent  method  of  breaking  was  far  more 
gentle  than  was  the  "buster's"  riot  with  the  steel  and  quirt, 
its  relative  softness  did  not  wholly  free  the  bronco  from  the 
lash  and  rowel,  or  rob  him  of  a  wholesome  respect  for  the 
possibihties  of  "leather."  A  pony,  once  thrown,  never  there- 
after outgrew  the  recollection  of  the  lariat's  spilling  ability. 


280  THE  COWBOY 

This  doubtless  explains  why  "gentled"  horses,  however 
mean,  could  surely  be  corralled  by  an  enclosure  made  of  a 
single  line  of  rope  held  withers  high. 

Upon  the  round-up,  in  camp,  anywhere,  lariats  were  tied 
end  to  end,  and  were  stretched  along  a  line  of  nondescript 
posts  which  might  be  wholly  or  in  part  trees,  men,  wagon- 
wheels,  or  the  horns  of  saddles  atop  sedate  old  nags.  A 
band  of  saddleless  riding  horses  would  arrive  upon  the  gal- 
lop, and  at  sight  of  that  one  strand  of  rope  would  stop  short 
to  stand  there  and  await  the  saddle.  This  effective  though 
very  loose  corral  needed  not  to  have  even  three  enclosed 
sides.  A  wide-opened  letter  ''V"  was  an  efficient  form.  A 
straight  line  would  do.  It  was  the  compelling  fear  of  the 
reata  that  held  the  animals.  And  yet  a  few  years  before, 
when  as  yet  unintroduced  to  leather,  they  had  rocked  the 
sides  of  a  log  enclosure  with  its  rawhide  fastenings. 

There  was  less  of  equine  violence  during  the  ^^ gentling," 
process  than  some  of  the  tenderfoot  spectators  had  expected, 
for  usually  the  animals  were  ridden  by  competent  horse- 
men. 

Impropriety  in  human  conduct  might  send  at  any  mo- 
ment into  ecstatic  pitching  even  a  horse  which  had  long 
since  been  broken,  and  for  years  had  been  thoroughly  docile; 
because,  broadly  speaking,  no  Western  steed,  so  long  as 
he  remained  physically  sound,  was  so  craven  as  surely  to 
tolerate  at  all  times  incompetent  horsemanship  upon  his 
back.  As  a  judge  of  equestrian  ability,  the  Range  pony 
was  both  quicker  and  better  than  any  riding-master  that 
ever  Hved.  Put  your  foot  in  a  stirrup,  and  in  an  instant 
you  had  been  accurately  appraised  by  the  horse  you  were 
mounting. 

Some  men,  for  a  reason  unknown  to  themselves  and  un- 
disclosed to  human  observers,  invited  bucking.  Women 
riders  as  a  class  were  less  apt  than  men  to  start  a  horse  to 
pitching. 


BREAKING  HORSES  281 

Breaking,  as  actually  done  by  competent  horsemen  at  a 
nimaber  of  ranches,  produced  averages  recorded  as  fol- 
lows: 

Practically  every  horse,  at  its  first  saddling  when  it  was 
on  the  leash  of  a  hackamore  and  before  any  attempt  was 
made  to  mount  the  brute,  "bucked  the  saddle."  If  the 
horse  were  not  abused  at  this  stage  of  its  training,  and,  while 
held  by  the  hackamore  or  by  a  lariat  about  its  neck,  were 
cajoled,  it  in  eighty  cases  out  of  one  hundred  quieted  down, 
and  either  eventually  on  that  same  day  or  else  at  the  second 
saddling  on  the  morrow,  tremblingly,  hesitatingly  permitted 
itself  to  be  mounted  by  a  competent  horseman,  and  this 
without  offering  to  buck  the  rider. 

A  few  of  these  pious  eighty  might  for  a  while  ''crowhop," 
I.  e.j  jump  about  with  arched  back  and  stiffened  knees,  but 
this  was  bucking  seen  through  the  large  end  of  an  opera- 
glass.  Any  thoroughly  competent  park  rider,  if  a  real  horse- 
man, could  have  sat  it,  at  least,  if  he  had  been  warned  as 
to  when  the  hopping  would  commence. 

There  were  left  from  the  hundred  animals  twenty,  all  of 
which  would  buck  more  or  less  at  their  first  riding,  ten  of 
which  would  continue  to  buck  more  or  less  at  their  second 
or  even  third  riding,  and  but  two  of  which  could  be  counted 
on  to  remain  permanently  versed  in  the  art  of  pitching. 

Of  these  two,  one  could  be  so  well  broken  that  it  would 
"go  after"  its  rider  only  when  long  rests  in  pasture  had 
lessened  recollection  of  human  supremacy.  The  other 
though  rideable  would  buck  whenever  it  became  excited 
or  irritated. 

One  horse  in  approximately  each  five  hundred  was  an 
"outlaw,"  a  brute  that  never  could  be  broken  and  that 
would  buck  almost  in  its  sleep. 

One  horse  in,  it  was  supposed,  approximately  each  ten 
thousand  was  sufficiently  like  a  "man-killer"  as  deliberately 
to  jump  on  his  thrown  rider's  prostrate  body. 


282  THE  COWBOY 

The  actual  man-killer,  traditionally  always  a  male,  was 
a  horse  so  rare  that  the  average  ranchman  in  his  whole  busi- 
ness life  saw  not  more  than  one. 

The  beast  was  a  very  devil  masquerading  in  the  body  of 
a  horse,  a  devil  that  at  sight  of  man  cunningly  planned  to 
kill  him. 

Ensconced  amid  the  stock  placidly  feeding  on  the  Range, 
the  brute  would  sight  an  approaching  horseman  or  pe- 
destrian, would  gently  disengage  itself  from  its  fellows, 
would  trot  quietly  forward  as  though  mild  and  friendly 
curiosity  were  its  only  incentive,  and  then  suddenly  and 
without  warning  would  spring  ahead  in  a  frenzied  rage, 
and  strike  down  the  man,  together  with  the  saddle-animal, 
if  any,  under  him. 

If  one  of  the  mad  beasts,  through  enmeshment  in  a  swiftly 
moving  round-up,  had  no  opportunity  thus  to  stalk  its  prey, 
it  would  bide  its  time  and  would,  in  apparent  innocence, 
hasten  along  with  the  driven  band,  meanwhile  edging 
toward  the  intended  victim.  When  the  moment  for  attack 
arrived,  the  brute  would  wheel,  and,  with  hard-set  face, 
open  mouth,  and  glittering  eye  would  come  on  hke  a  de- 
stroying demon. 

While  the  man-killer  at  times  would  kill  riderless  horses, 
either  in  the  corral  or  out  upon  the  range,  the  favorite 
prey  was  the  human  being. 

Although,  during  the  peaceful  moods  of  the  insane  beast, 
men  usually  could  not  distinguish  it  from  a  normal  animal, 
ridden  horses  frequently  diagnosed  it  from  afar.  It  was 
traditional  among  riders  that,  when  in  the  vicinity  of  loose 
horses  their  mounts  began  to  quiver  and  to  swerve  away, 
the  ''six  gun''  should  be  drawn  at  once.  ''Kill  him,  the 
second  he  shows  he's  one,  or  he'll  get  you  sure,"  was  the 
slogan  of  the  ranchmen. 

The  pedestrian  while  on  the  open  range  ran  a  danger 
from  man-killing  horses,  danger,  however,  so  slight  as  to 


BREAKING  HORSES  283 

be  almost  academic;  but  he  was  in  constant  risk  from  all 
the  cattle,  especially  from  the  cows. 

For  a  dismounted  man,  the  Range  cow  was,  under  average 
conditions,  a  far  more  dangerous  adversary  than  was  the 
grizzly  bear.  Under  those  average  conditions,  the  cow  would 
always  attack;  the  bear  would  almost  always  avoid  a  con- 
flict. 

No  Spanish  bull-fighter  would  have  dared  to  fight,  with 
sword,  a  Texan  ''long-horn"  cow. 

A  man  on  foot  would  be  far  out  in  the  grass.  A  cow  amid 
a  bunch  of  cattle  would  spy  him  and  start  toward  him.  The 
other  brutes  would  follow. 

The  bimch,  starting  at  a  walk,  would  break  presently 
into  a  trot,  and  finally  would  begin  to  move  in  a  spiral  about 
the  victim.  So  far,  inquisitiveness  apparently  had  been  the 
only  stimulus.  Suddenly  ''tails  would  roll,"  and,  with  sav- 
age fury  taking  the  place  of  the  prior  motive,  the  herd  would 
quicken  to  a  gallop  and  sweep  over  the  helpless  victim. 
Hoofs  would  crush  out  his  life. 

The  herd  had  never  before  seen  a  pedestrian  in  the  open 
country,  and  seemingly  had  concluded  that  so  unusual  an 
object  must  be  an  enemy. 

So  great  was  the  danger  from  cattle  to  persons  afoot, 
that  ranchers  imposed  heavy  fines  on  such  of  their  em- 
ployees as,  without  valid  excuse,  dismounted  on  the  range 
when  within  a  quarter  of  a  mile  of  a  bunch  of  cattle. 

Men  had,  of  course,  to  work  afoot  always  at  the  brand- 
ing fires,  and  sometimes  within  the  corrals;  but  these  men 
constantly  were  guarded  by  watchful  horsemen  with  ready 
lariats.  No  dismounted  man  dared  to  stay  alone  within  a 
corral  containing  cattle,  for  he  was  convinced  that  the  happy 
issue  of  Daniel  from  the  lions'  den  could  not  safely  be  re- 
lied upon  as  a  precedent. 

Memories  of  the  Texan  "long  horn  "  make  many  a  white- 
haired  grandfather  of  to-day,  a  graduate  of  the  Range  of 


284  THE  COWBOY 

long  ago,  intuitively  cringe  as  under  guidance  of  his  little 
granddaughter  he  goes  afield  to  come  suddenly  upon  a  placid 
mooley  cow. 

Cattle,  save  for  occasional  ones  bent  on  ^'prodding," 
were  little  disposed  to  approach  a  mounted  rider.  Possibly 
they  thought  the  man  to  be  part  of  his  horse. 

Scattered  about  the  West  were  '^spoiled  horses,"  animals 
which  man,  by  kicks  in  the  face  or  by  other  abuse  during 
the  breaking  period,  had  ruined  as  to  character,  and  which, 
engraving  on  their  hearts  the  motto,  ''No  one  shall  ever 
stay  on  our  backs,"  held  throughout  their  lives  as  closely 
as  they  could  to  their  resolve  and  bucked  and  bucked  and 
bucked.    They  were  merely  man-made  ''outlaws." 

Bucking  itself  needs  little  description.  It  was  in  part  the 
antics  of  an  angry  cat  on  a  hot  plate.  Every  one  who  is  fa- 
miliar with  its  component  motions,  can  draw  in  his  imagina- 
tion a  picture  as  accurate  as  the  pen  can  make,  can  run  the 
gamut  from  ''straight  bucking"  through  "sun  fishing"  and 
the  "end  for  end"  to  the  "back  throw,"  can  appreciate 
the  significance  of  the  Western  phrase:  "Bucking  off  a 
porous  plaster." 

Between  "bucking"  and  "pitching,"  there  was  no  dif- 
ference except  that  of  geography.  The  Northwesterner 
called  the  horrid  motion  "bucking"  or  "buck  jumping," 
the  Texan  termed  it  "pitching." 

A  horse  was  doing  "straight  work,"  when  he  kept  his 
body  headed  in  one  general  direction,  however  high  he  might 
arch  his  back  at  one  moment,  however  sway-backed  he 
might  momentarily  be  the  instant  afterward.  In  accom- 
plishing this,  he  might  land  always  upon  the  same  spot, 
or  he  might  "pitch  a  plunginV'  otherwise  called  the  "run- 
ning buck,"  or  "bucking  straight  away,"  that  is,  jump  for- 
ward with  each  buck.  An  ingenious  brute  could  embellish 
his  straight  work  by  either  a  seesaw  effect  wherein  he  landed 
alternately  on  his  front  and  hind  feet  (this  sometimes  called 


BREAKING  HORSES  285 

"walking  beaming"),  or  else  by  bucking  not  in  the  vertical 
plane  but  diagonally  upward,  and  leaning  first  to  the  right 
and  then  to  the  left.  He  also  could  vary  the  motion  by 
snakelike  contortions  of  his  spine,  by  shakes  and  shivers, 
by  rearward  jumps,  and  by  sudden  downward  and  sideway 
lunges  of  a  shoulder  or  hip. 

When  a  brute  added  ability  to  leave  the  ground  while 
headed  at  one  compass  point  and  to  land  while  headed  at 
another,  he  was  ^'pitchin'  fence-cornered." 

If  he  twisted  his  body  into  a  crescent,  with  its  horns  alter- 
nately to  right  and  left,  he  qualified  as  a  "sim  fisher,"  and, 
in  producing  this  motion,  he  was  apt  to  merge  in  it  an  ex- 
aggerated '' fence-cornering."  Going  up  headed,  say,  north- 
east and  landing  headed,  say,  northwest  was  the  passing 
mark  for  this  latter  phase  of  the  sun-fish  degree. 

If  a  beast  substituted  for  these  directions  straight  north 
and  south,  he  accomplished  the  third  degree  in  bucking, 
the  "end  for  end,"  in  which  he  effected  a  series  of  semi- 
revolutions,  and  so,  as  the  West  said,  kept  "swapping  ends." 

Bucking  might  be  terminated  sometimes  by  a  "rear 
back,"  or  "back  fall,"  sometimes  by  a  "back  throw,"  some- 
times by  a  "side  throw,"  or  on  very  rare  occasions  by  a 
"pinwheel."  Usually  it  was  ended  by  the  mere  failure  of 
the  bronco  to  buck  any  longer. 

The  difference  between  the  "rear  back,"  or  "back  fall," 
and  the  "back  throw,"  was  one  of  speed  and  motive.  In 
the  "rear  back,"  or  "back  fall,"  according  as  one  termed  it, 
the  horse,  attempting  to  stand  erect  upon  its  hind  legs, 
quivered,  imintentionally  lost  its  balance,  and  fell.  In  the 
"back  throw"  the  brute  with  rapid  movement  and  affirma- 
tive purpose  overreared  and  hurled  itseff  backward  and  to 
the  ground. 

The  "pinwheel"  sent  the  beast  on  a  forward  and  upward 
jump,  to  turn  feet  up  in  the  air  and  to  land  on  its  back. 
The  crest  of  a  steep  hill  gave  best  opportunity  for  this  awful 


286  THE  COWBOY  ^^    C>    \^ 

gyration.  Most  fortunately,  it  was  extremely  seldom  that 
a  horse  achieved  this  movement. 

The  direction  of  the  "side  throw ^^  appears  from  its  name. 

Such  were  the  outstanding,  technical  expressions  which 
ear-marked  the  various  specialties  in  pitching.  They, 
though  slangy  in  origin,  were  not  intended  to  be  slangy  in 
usage,  and  they  functioned  seriously  as  an  integral  part 
of  the  West's  legitimate  English.  The  West,  however,  had 
its  conscious  slang,  ''cat  backed ''  for  "buck,"  any  phrase 
human  humor  could  invent  as  applicable  to  the  several 
motions  which  the  horse  and  the  devil  between  them  had 
devised.  This  conscious  slang  was  ephemeral,  because  it 
came  from  word  mines  of  the  moment,  from  social  and  poUt- 
ical  sources  that,  vital  for  an  instant,  passed  into  history, 
and  through  it  into  obUvion. 

Modern  days  have  filched  terms  from  modem  sources, 
and  applied  them  in  slangy  sense  to  modem  buckers.  At 
Dresent-day  Western  riding  competitions  one  hears  of  horses 
" aviating,*'  doing  ''nose  dives,"  "high  dives,"  or  "tail- 
spins,"  being  "skyscrapers,"  having  "six  cylinders,"  and 
"skipping  on  two  of  them,"  "stepping  on  the  gas,"  doing 
the  "cake  walk,"  being  the  "best  pitcher  in  the  baseball 
leagues,"  being  a  "side  winder,"  and  "good  thrower  to 
second  base."  But  such  phrases  are  creations  of  the  pres- 
ent, and  were  unknown  upon  the  open  Range  of  bygone 
years. 

Every  rider  of  a  "bad  actor,"  a  horse  that  acted  viciously, 
was  on  the  watch  for  kicks  and  bites,  and  kept  himself  in 
hand  for  the  dreaded  rear  back,  back  throw,  or  less  dan- 
gerous side  throw,  but  could  dismiss  the  pinwheel  from 
the  hst  of  prospective  probabilities. 

If  a  horse  reared  and  threatened  to  fall  backward,  the 
"loaded"  end  of  the  quirt  striking  between  his  ears  would 
knock  him  down  to  normal  position,  would  make  him  do 
what  the  cowboys  termed  "come  down  in  front,"  but  if 


BREAKING  HORSES  287 

stunned  he  promptly  might  roll  onto  his  side.  Incidentally, 
the  quirt's  blow  might  kill  him.  This  roll  onto  the  side  and 
the  side  throw  itself  each  could  crush  the  leg  of  the  rider, 
but  notwithstanding  this  danger  the  man  had  good  chance 
of  landing  clear  of  the  horse.  If,  however,  the  animal,  sud- 
denly rearing,  threw  itself  directly  backward,  there  was 
some  chance,  though  very  little,  to  escape  crushing  by  the 
saddle's  horn.  There  was  no  escape  from  the  pinwheel, 
and  no  method  of  preventing  it. 

Motion  was  accompanied  by  music,  for  the  average  pitch- 
ing bronco  emitted  grunts  and  snorts,  and  usually  loud 
''bawls"  of  rage,  while  a  bucking  mule  rarely  forgot  to  bray. 

This  word  "bawl,"  because  the  technical  term  for  the 
bronco's  yelps  of  deviltry,  popularized  throughout  the  West 
the  slang  phrase  "bawling  him  out/'  which  meant  one  man's 
vociferously  scolding  another. 

In  violence  of  pitching  motion,  the  mule  outdid  the  horse. 

Bucking  imposed  sudden,  pitiless  strains  upon  the 
abdomen  of  a  horseman,  and  viciously  twitched  his  neck. 

The  shock  of  bucking  was  so  severe  that  many  a  rider 
bled  from  the  nose,  the  mouth,  sometimes  the  ears;  not 
a  few  men  fainted  in  the  saddle;  they  occasionally,  through 
involuntarily,  constricted  muscles,  insensately  maintaining 
their  seats  until  the  horses  surrendered.  Many  men  were 
ruptured,  and  in  very  rare  instances  men  fell  dead  from 
their  animals'  backs.  An  autopsy  upon  the  body  of  a  rider 
who  had  thus  died,  disclosed  a  liver  entirely  torn  from  its 
moorings. 

Pitching  horses  frequently  bled  from  the  nose,  and  some- 
times, though  rarely,  bucked  till  stopped  by  self-imposed 
death. 

The  average  pitching  animal  far  from  attained  the  ex- 
tremes of  turbulence  indicated  above,  but  he  always  was, 
even  for  the  best  of  riders,  excessively  uncomfortable,  and 
at  least  latently  dangerous. 


288  THE  COWBOY 

An  animal  bucked  till  he  unseated  his  rider,  or  sooner 
either  was  satiated  or  made  to  the  man  atop  him  an  af- 
firmative surrender  of  spirit. 

With  such  a  surrender,  the  rider  was  said  to  have  "ridden 
it  out,"  or  have  "ridden  to  a  finish." 

Bucking  might  last  five  seconds.  It  has  been  known  to 
continue  almost  uninterruptedly,  though  with  slight  vigor, 
for  an  hour.  If  an  average  time  be  demanded,  there  is  hesi- 
tatingly put  forth  three  minutes,  this  covering  groups  of 
jumps,  each  group  consuming  some  ten  seconds,  and  there 
being,  between  each  two  groups  a  slight  pause,  during  which 
the  horse  sulked  or,  as  the  West  said,  "suUed."  This  aver- 
age of  three  minutes  means  the  average  for  all  bucking 
horses  collectively,  not  the  average  for  the  very  violent 
spasms  of  a  single  confirmed  pitcher.  This  latter  t3T)e  of 
brute  was  ordinarily  no  time-consumer.  He  threw  himself 
so  whole-heartedly  into  his  task,  as  to  use  up  his  vitality 
in  from  ten  to  thirty  seconds. 

The  cowboy,  except  as  an  occasional  outlet  for  over- 
bubbling  vitality,  "topped  off"  buckers  only  when  duty 
required.  It  was  not  danger  that  deterred  him.  It  was 
merely  that  such  riding  was  inhumanly  tiring. 

Some  animals,  planning  to  unseat  their  riders,  resorted 
at  the  instant  of  mounting  not  to  the  buck,  but  to  more 
prosaic  running  away  or  to  cahnly  lying  down.  The  per- 
formance of  this  last-mentioned  trick  automatically,  though 
however  illogically,  brought  from  all  bystanders  derisive 
advice  to  the  cowboy  formerly  aboard  the  supine  beast. 

Such  a  prone  horse  very  likely  received  uncomfortable 
treatment,  for  his  erstwhile  rider,  now  standing  over  him, 
might  with  steady,  upward  pull  upon  the  reins  keep  the 
beast ^s  head  from  off  the  ground,  and  with  one  foot  press 
steadily  downward  upon  the  saddle  horn.  The  horse  thus 
was  deprived  of  the  leverage  of  its  neck,  the  balance  weight 
of  its  head,  and  consequently  of  ability  to  roll  its  body  or 


BREAKING  HORSES  289 

to  regain  its  feet.  When  the  pony's  neck  had  received  suf- 
ficient cramping  pains,  the  beast  would  offer  to  rise,  and  as 
it  reached  its  feet  the  cowboy  would  land  in  the  saddle. 

Or  else  the  rider,  instead  of  following  this  course  of  af- 
firmative action,  deliberately  kept  his  feet  in  the  stirrups, 
so  that  one  of  his  legs  remained  under  the  down-lying  horse. 
The  man,  for  the  safety  of  this  leg,  confidently  rehed  on 
the  softness  of  the  groimd,  the  strength  of  his  stirrup,  the 
thickness  of  his  chaps,  and  the  fight  weight  of  his  horse, 
and  trusted  that  the  bystanders  would  rope  and  hold  the 
feet  of  the  animal,  should  it  attempt  to  roll. 

When  the  horse  became  tired  of  its  prone  position,  it 
would  lurch  to  its  feet  and  have  the  man  still  aboard. 

As  to  whether  or  not  a  rider  should  so  risk  his  leg  was 
a  question  for  his  individual  decision.  Some  riders  endeav- 
ored under  any  circumstances  to  stick  to  their  mount,  be- 
lieving that  their  quitting  would  give  the  horse  undue 
confidence,  and  would  retard  if  not  annul  his  growing  belief 
in  the  supremacy  of  man. 

All  the  time  that  the  horse  was  lying  prone  he  would  be 
talked  to  by  his  rider  in  soothing  tones  though  profane 
terms.  Throughout  bucking,  the  rider  poured  a  conver- 
sational volley  at  the  pitching  beast.  The  sound  of  the 
human  voice  was  supposedly  one  means  of  proving  to  the 
horse  that  he  had  met  his  master. 

Running  away  was  often  interjected  by  a  hard  pitcher 
as  a  special  scene  between  the  regular  acts  of  his  real  per- 
formance. Runaway  horses  would  go  astonishingly  long 
distances,  and  not  infrequently  would  wheel  at  the  end  of 
the  course  they  had  selected,  and  return  at  high  speed  to 
the  starting-point.  Their  riders  customarily  were  showered 
with  vociferous  farewells  from  the  human  spectators  at  the 
outset  of  these  lonesome  races. 

One  puncher  many  years  ago  mounted,  and  in  a  moment 
was  flying  due  westward,  soon  to  disappear  behind  a  point 


290  THE  COWBOY 

of  trees.  Unseen  from  the  corral,  he  rounded  these  and 
made  his  next  appearance  some  time  later  headed  for  the 
corral,  and  coming  from  the  east.  The  instant  of  his  ar- 
rival, he  received,  in  addition  to  a  circular  bit  of  leather 
hastily  cut  from  a  wide  strap,  the  greeting:  ''You  shore 
has  proved  the  earth  is  round." 

The  man  on  top  of  the  runaway  usually  was  willing  to 
let  the  beast  ''run  down  its  mainspring,"  but  he  could 
promptly  stop  the  animal  if  he  cared  to  jeopardize  his  own 
neck.  If  this  man  were  to  reach  forward,  grasp  either  the 
rein  or  the  bridle  at  a  point  close  to  the  bit,  and,  as  the  horse 
lifted  its  front  feet,  were  to  pull  the  brute's  head  sharply 
to  one  side,  the  horse  would  land  on  its  flank  upon  the 
ground.  A  less  strenuous  method  was  to  lean  forward  and 
to  hang  a  coat,  handkerchief,  or  hat  before  the  eyes  of  the 
horse.  In  this  latter  case,  unless  the  brute  promptly  fell 
or  was  a  "locoed"  animal,  it  would  quickly  cease  its  gallop- 
ing. 

There  were  two  methods  of  riding  the  buck.  One  was  to 
"sit  it,"  or,  as  otherwise  termed  to  "ride  straight  up,"  L  e., 
to  sit  uprightly  and  squarely  in  the  saddle,  shifting  one's 
balance  with  every  change  in  the  horse's  position. 

If  the  man  sitting  the  buck  were  an  expert,  a  top  rider, 
he  kept  his  seat  and  legs  so  closely  to  the  saddle  as  never 
to  bounce  upward,  and  thus,  even  for  an  instant,  to  "show 
daylight"  beneath  his  body;  and  his  hands,  after  he  had 
mounted,  never  touched  the  saddle,  much  less  felt  for  the 
buck  strap.    But  a  single  hand  held  the  reins. 

Less  accomplished  men  in  large  munbers  might  be  willing 
to  "hunt  leather,"  "take  leather,"  "touch  leather,"  "pull 
leather,"  or  "go  to  leather,"  as  a  hand  hold  upon  any  part 
of  the  saddle,  its  accoutrements,  or  the  horse  was  inter- 
changeably known,  might  be  willing  to  "  choke  the  horn," 
or  "choke,"  or  "squeeze,"  "the  biscuit,"  as  a  hand  hold 
upon  the  saddle  horn  was  more  specifically  designated,  but 


BREAKING  HORSES  291 

not  so  the  jaunty  top  rider.  He  scorned  such  aid,  as  also 
locked  spurs,  tied  stirrups,  and  other  mechanical  assistance; 
and  thereby  he  ^^rode  slick."  Not  only  was  the  buck  strap 
absent  from  his  saddle,  but  his  specialty  was  rolling  and 
smoking  cigarettes  while  on  top  of  a  living  windmill.  Fre- 
quent waves  of  his  hat  or  its  slapping  on  the  windmill's 
sides,  thereby  ''fanning"  the  brute,  his  withdrawing  a  foot 
from  its  stirrup  and  swinging  this  foot  far  forward  and  back- 
ward to  spur  or  ''scratch"  the  horse  on  neck  and  rump, 
thereby  ''raking"  the  beast,  his  refusal  to  use  his  spurs  for 
the  purpose  of  clinging  were  additional,  conventional,  if 
insincere,  evidences  of  an  ostensibly  care-free  state. 

The  other  method  of  riding  the  buck  involved  the  rider's 
seizing  the  horn  by  one  or  both  hands,  his  pushing  himself 
sideways  out  of  the  saddle  and  standing  in  one  stirrup,  with 
his  knee  on  that  side  flexed,  and  his  other  leg  at  its  midway 
point  between  hip  and  knee  resting  horizontally  across  the 
saddle's  seat.  His  flexed  knee-joint  and  his  two  hip-joints, 
thus  collectively  absorbed  the  shock.  Some  users  of  this 
system,  sometimes  called  "monkey  style,"  stood  in  the 
left  stirrup,  others  in  the  right.  But  however  they  stood, 
their  method  patently  necessitated  ''choking  the  horn," 
"taking  leather,"  and  "showing  daylight." 

In  formal  riding  competitions,  whoever,  competing  in  a 
class  reserved  for  top  riders  and  in  which  "hunting  leather," 
naturally  was  barred,  gave  merely  an  accidental,  momen- 
tary, and  slightest  touch  of  any  part  of  either  hand  to  any 
portion  of  the  saddle  after  mounting  had  been  completed, 
received  a  demerit  for  each  offense  or,  if  the  rules  were  such, 
was  at  once  disqualified. 

Indifferent  horsemen,  more  fearful  of  pitching  than  of 
the  taunting  tongues  of  beholders,  used  when  upon  the 
range  to  "tie,"  or  "hobble"  their  stirrups,  in  other  words 
to  connect  them  by  a  strap  or  rope  passing  under  the  horse. 
This  had  the  advantage  of  furnishing  a  firm  anchorage  dur- 


292  THE  COWBOY 

ing  bucking,  but  the  disadvantage  of  imposing  a  social  stig- 
ma. Bystanders  were  wont  to  insist  that  no  real  horsemen 
^Hied/'  while  ''sheep-herders  ride  with  tied  stirrups  and 
one  spur."  "Tjdng'*  was  forbidden  in  the  riding  compe- 
titions, on  the  theory  that  the  latter  were  a  test  of  horse- 
manship and  not  a  "test  of  string." 

Occasionally  some  daredevil  puncher  rode  with  "shck 
heels,"  I.  e.y  without  spurs,  or  else  rode  a  horse,  a  mule,  or 
a  steer  either  bareback  or  with  only  a  cinch  or  lariat  about 
the  animal's  body.  All  this,  however,  was  an  "exhibition 
stunt,"  and  was  no  part  of  ranching  work.  Some  irre- 
pressible youths  have  successfully  accomplished  the  feat  of 
sitting  a  bareback  animal  while  facing  its  tail.  This  last 
mentioned  method  of  horsemanship  is  not  recommended 
for  beginners  in  riding. 

Bucking  sometimes  is  stated  to  have  had  its  origin  in 
defensive  kicking  by  the  original  horses  against  attacking 
wolves.  This  statement  is  not  conclusive,  for  neither  Euro- 
pean nor  Asiatic  horses  are  apt  to  buck,  and  wolves  have 
ever  been  present  on  those  continents.  The  only  explana- 
tion at  all  satisfactory  to  one  who  has  just  dismounted  from 
a  "beast  with  a  belly  full  of  bed-springs,"  is  that  offered 
long  ago  by  June  Buzzell,  a  puncher  of  the  Dakota  and 
Wyoming  Ranges,  and  which  was:  "Bucking  started  from 
the  back  door  of  hell  on  a  hot  day,  and  came  out  on  the 
run." 

It  was  only  the  light  weight  of  the  American  broncos  that 
made  their  pitching  humanly  endurable.  If  the  heavier 
European  horses,  as  a  class,  had  pitched,  and  that  with 
jounce  which,  measured  by  bronco  standard,  was  propor- 
tionate to  their  weight  and  muscle,  riding  would  have  been 
a  rarely  exercised  accomplishment  in  Europe,  because  only 
an  occasional  man  would  have  had  vitality  enough  to  stand 
the  punishment.  One  of  America's  best  cowboy  riders  ac- 
companied a  "Wild- West  Show"  to  Europe  some  years 


BREAKING  HORSES  293 

since,  and  there  met  almost  his  death  from  the  terrific 
thumps  and  strains  received  while  upon  the  back  of  a  buck- 
ing stallion  that  never  had  been  outside  of  France. 

Moreover,  the  importation  of  European  horses  into 
America,  and  their  crossing  with  the  bronco  would  sooner 
or  later  have  eliminated  most  of  the  '^graded  up'^  broncos 
from  the  list  of  saddle  animals.  For  commercial  reasons 
he  had  to  be  ^'graded  up^'  to  increased  size  and  weight. 
He  was  too  small  for  the  great  majority  of  harness  uses, 
and  it  was  the  harness  and  not  the  saddle  that  furnished 
to  the  Range  its  principal  market.  There  very  probably 
would  have  been  continued,  with  animals  in  limited  numbers 
and  for  riding  purposes,  a  strain  of  bronco  blood  either  un- 
mixed or  else  crossed  with  such  larger,  imported  beasts  as 
had  proved  themselves  to  be  non-buckers.  In  any  event, 
Western  horse-raising  would  have  had  a  history  quite  dif- 
ferent from  its  actual  one.  Buck  Taylor  and  various  other 
horsemen  might  never  have  ridden  into  fame. 

The  whole  situation  was  saved  by  a  fortunate  provision 
of  nature  which,  in  the  average  case,  while  permitting  the 
imported  horse,  on  crossing  with  the  bronco,  to  pass  down 
the  former's  qualities,  nevertheless  prevented  it  from  also 
giving  mere  exaggeration  to  qualities  which  the  bronco 
alone  possessed.  Thus  a  six-hundred-poimd  bronco,  with, 
say,  six  hundred  pounds  of  bucking  force  inside  it,  mated 
with  a  nine-hundred-pound  non-bucker.  Their  colt  would 
eventually  weigh,  say,  seven  hundred  pounds  and  would 
have  at  most  six  hundred  pounds  of  bucking  force.  Suc- 
cessive generations  would  tend  to  increase  the  figures  for 
the  animals'  weights  and  to  decrease  those  for  their  buck- 
ing force. 

The  spectator  at  one  of  the  present-day  formal  riding 
competitions  at  Cheyenne,  Pendleton,  Billings,  Prescott, 
Las  Vegas,  Wichita  Falls,  etc.,  sees,  in  a  single  afternoon, 
a  much  greater  number  of  violently  bucking  horses  than  in 


294  THE  COWBOY 

olden  time  he  would  have  seen,  during  an  entire  week,  at  a 
ranch,  however  large.  The  reason  for  this  is  that  no  horses 
except  "spoiled"  animals  or  "outlaws"  are  employed  at 
these  modern  competitions.  The  spectators  at  these  com- 
petitions see  punchers  ride  at  least  as  well  as  the  latter's 
fathers  and  grandfathers  used  to  ride,  but  these  punchers 
of  to-day  are  spared  one  danger  that  their  fathers  and  grand- 
fathers had  to  risk.  The  puncher  of  to-day,  standing  in, 
say,  Pendelton's  or  Prescott's  arena,  assumes  that  while 
every  one  of  the  horses  he  is  called  upon  to  '^ hairpin"  will 
go  to  the  limit  of  roughness  in  legitimate  pitching,  none 
of  them  will  prove  itself  a  deliberate  man-killer.  He  as- 
sumes this,  because  present-day  horse-raising  is  done  in  a 
populous  country  and  so  allows  the  idiosyncrasies  of  prac- 
tically every  horse  to  become  known  to  its  owner. 
'  But  the  father  and  grandfather,  dealing  wholly  with 
animals  self-raised  on  the  lonely  Range,  had  no  foreknowl- 
edge of  any  particular  beast ^s  peculiarities.  Although  the 
father  and  grandfather,  entering  the  corral  of  years  ago, 
surmised  that  but  a  small  proportion  of  their  prospective 
mounts  would  buck  to  the  limit  of  roughness,  these  bygone 
men  could  not  be  confident  that  they  were  not  to  meet  a 
"back  throw,"  or  that  among  the  horses  was  not  a  pro- 
fessional murderer. 

The  "gentling"  of  the  horses  which  had  been  gathered 
at  the  round-up  was  eventually  finished.  At  last  came  the 
time  to  ship,  and  the  punchers  headed  toward  the  railway 
with  their  charges. 

The  expedition  travelled  by  day  and  rested  by  night  in 
the  same  manner  as  though  the  men  had  been  driving  cat- 
tle. But  it  moved  a  bit  more  rapidly,  and  there  was  much 
less  fear  of  possible  stampede;  though  a  horse  stampede 
once  started  was  far  more  difficult  to  stop  than  was  the 
"bust  up"  of  a  cattle  herd;  and  beyond  all  was  that  of 
mules.    Horses  had  as  much  curiosity  as  had  cattle;  but, 


BREAKING  HORSES  295 

unlike  cattle,  would  not  feel  impelled  to  run  for  miles  be- 
cause a  rumbling  brown  stream  of  buffalo  had  flowed  into 
sight  (this  of  course  only  in  earlier  days),  or  Indians  had 
been  scented,  or  a  wolf  had  howled,  or  a  stick  had  cracked, 
or  a  tin  can  had  been  dropped,  or  a  wagon  cover  had  slatted, 
or  any  one  of  a  thousand  and  one  things  had  occurred.  Any 
happening,  however  trivial,  might,  if  unexpected,  send  the 
cattle  into  racing  frenzy. 

The  expedition  travelled  onward,  and  eventually  reached 
the  railway.  The  horses  were  herded  into  the  shipping 
pens,  receipted  for,  and,  as  none  of  the  punchers  was  to 
travel  with  this  particular  shipment,  their  work  for  their 
employers  was  for  the  moment  finished. 

But  important  business  was  ahead  of  the  men.  They 
had  of  course  to  visit  their  "  our  town,"  their  ''our  shipping 
point,"  ''the  biggest  little  town  in  all  the  West,"  a  typical 
little  cow  town  that  lay  a  half-mile  down  the  track. 

They  had  in  their  pockets  the  coins  of  six  months'  wages — 
coins,  because  paper  money  was  unknown  upon  the  Range, 
where  coins  of  gold  or  silver  were  the  only  money  seen,  a 
half-dollar  if  not  a  dollar  was  the  smallest  coin  used,  and, 
in  lieu  of  fractional  currency  for  the  making  of  change,  car- 
tridges of  standard  sizes  not  uncommonly  functioned. 

Thus  opulent,  the  men,  their  foreman  and  top  riders  in 
accord  with  social  usage  leading,  headed  for  town.  Had 
they  been  driving  live  stock,  they  would  have  entered  the 
settlement  or  skirted  it  at  the  slow  rate  demanded  by 
the  driven  herd.  But,  being  free  from  convoying  cares,  the 
party  kept  its  horses  at  a  rapid  walk  or  mincing  trot,  the 
gaits  usual  for  country  travel,  until  there  was  reached 
the  first  outlying  building,  when  instantly,  and  in  accord 
with  custom,  all  horses  were  sent  into  a  lope. 

The  men  clattered  thus  into  a  town  such  as  countless 
writers  on  Western  subjects  have  described,  and  forthwith 
embarked  upon  the  ostensible  joys  and  rapid  roads  to  in- 


296  THE  COWBOY 

solvency  which  those  same  writers  have  so  repeatedly  em- 
ployed as  themes. 

But  there  was  far  from  the  quantity  of  exploding  gun- 
powder and  flying  bullets  that  many  of  these  writers  have 
portrayed.    Probably  there  was  none  at  all. 

When  the  men  entered  the  settlement,  they  made  con- 
siderable noise,  but  it  was  the  sound  only  of  kindly  yells, 
of  hoofs,  of  bridle  chains,  and  of  spur  steel.  They  did  not 
attempt  to  'Hake  the  town"  by  ''shooting  it  up,"  or  by 
otherwise  threatening  its  inhabitants.  There  was  no  in- 
centive to  do  this.  Every  one  knew  the  men,  so  there  was 
nobody  to  bluff. 

At  times  such  shooting  did  occur  in  larger  cow  towns,  as 
at  Dodge  City,  Abilene,  Newton,  Ogalalla,  Julesburg,  and 
Cheyenne,  but  it  represented  in  the  main,  apart  from  oc- 
casional, serious  drink-caused  duels,  little  more  than  youth- 
ful prankishness,  and  an  egotistical  desire  by  passing 
punchers  from  distant  regions  to  impress  the  local  inhabi- 
tants with  the  fact  of  the  visitors^  presence. 

Young,  trained  athletes  had  just  completed  a  drive  of 
perhaps  four  months  of  actual  riding  in  the  awful  dust  of 
the  cattle  herd,  possibly  had  been  delayed  for  three  or  four 
additional  months  by  stock  quarantines  upon  the  route. 
Now  they  had  reached  their  destination,  and  their  task 
was  done.    "Whoop !"    Of  course  it  was  "Whoop  !" 

At  times  their  boyish  ebulhtion  was  attempted  to  be 
checked  and  the  punchers  turned  to  violence;  just  as  to- 
day the  home-coming,  cheering  attendants  of  some  sedate 
collegers  victorious  football  team,  busy  with  collecting  dis- 
carded boards  for  a  celebrating  fire  and  undiplomatically 
admonished  by  the  single  local  constable,  instantly  acquire 
axes  and  right  and  left  demolish  gates  and  fences. 

And  yet  the  records  of  the  cowboys'  temporary  incur- 
sions into  deviltry  have  come  down  through  the  years,  and 
falsely  advertised  themselves  as  being  pictures  of  the  aver- 


BREAKING  HORSES  297 

age  life  of  the  average  cowboy.  The  very  picture  that  shows 
a  day  of  drunkenness,  of  shooting  and  of  brothel  life,  and 
puts  itself  in  the  lime-Ught,  omits  any  portrayal  of  the  three 
hundred  and  sixty-four  days  of  hunger,  thirst,  stampedes, 
fires,  cloudbursts,  drifts,  quicksands,  of  uncomplaining  and 
complete  filUng  of  a  job  that  it  assuredly  took  a  man  to  fill. 

Our  punchers  not  only  did  not  take  the  town,  but  also 
did  not  even  ^^buy'^  it.  Had  they  felt  unusually  hilarious 
and  been  markedly  well-treated  by  whatever  goddess  pre- 
sides over  faro,  and  particularly  had  representatives  from 
any  rival  ranch  been  present,  one  of  our  punchers  as  spokes- 
man for  his  party  might  have  turned  away  from  the  gam- 
ing-table, might  have  laid  from  five  hundred  to  a  thousand 
dollars  upon  the  bar,  have  given  that  all-including  hand 
sweep  practised  by  queens,  prime  ministers,  and  drunken 
men,  and  have  announced  "  Gents,  it's  on  us.  She's  opened 
up.  The  town  is  youm."  Thereupon  the  local  purveyors 
would  have  syndicated,  and,  until  the  exhaustion  of  the 
money  thus  laid  upon  the  bar,  none  of  the  restaurants  and 
saloons  in  town  would  have  made  any  charge  to  any  cus- 
tomer for  whatever  food  or  drink  he  might  consume.  This 
patronizing  gift  of  a  town  to  its  own  citizens,  this  complete 
reversal  of  the  European  spirit  in  conferring  the  freedom 
of  a  city  was  known  as  '' buying  a  town,''  or  '^opening"  it 
''up."  Tradition,  true  or  false,  relates  that  Cheyenne  on 
one  occasion  was  ''bought"  for  thirty  thousand  dollars  by 
a  convivial  Enghsh  group. 

Another  phase  of  this  recklessness  with  money,  a  reck- 
lessness which  in  those  days  of  optimism  was  locally  epito- 
mized in  the  sayings:  "Easy  come,  easy  go,"  and  "Spend- 
ing next  year's  profits,"  found  expression  in  the  ordering 
of  inordinately  large  and  useless  quantities  of  useful  things. 
"Gimme  a  bottle  of  beer  and  fifty  dollars  worth  of  ham 
and  eggs,"  has  greeted  more  than  one  restaurant's  waitress. 

It  may  not  be  amiss  to  digress  for  a  moment  to  later  years 


298  THE  COWBOY 

and  to  Alaska  in  its  booming  days.  Tradition  there  relates 
that  a  spurned  suitor  for  the  hand  of  a  woman  'Hook  to 
the  hills/ ^  dug  out  a  fortune,  and  one  December  returned 
to  her  presence.  Knowing  her  regard  for  what  Alaskans 
conceived  to  be  the  greatest  gastronomic  delicacy,  he  quietly 
cornered  all  the  packed  eggs  both  in  the  territory  and  in 
the  ships  bound  toward  it;  and,  at  supper-time  during  the 
Christmas  ball  and  in  the  presence  of  his  rival,  proudly 
directed  a  waitress  to  ''give  the  lady  a  hundred  thousand 
dollars  worth  of  scrambled  eggs." 

As  still  another  phase  of  this  same  spirit,  audiences  at 
the  little  theatres  which  were  boasted  by  some  of  the  larger 
cow  towns  were  apt  to  throw  coins  to  actresses  who  had 
earned  acclaim.  Silver  dollars  were  the  conventional  offer- 
ings; but,  at  Cheyenne,  one  lusty  man  became  so  enthralled 
at  the  way  "The  last  kiss  my  darling  mother  gave,''  was 
described  in  coyote  tremolo  by  a  blonde  soprano,  that  he 
hurled  a  twenty-dollar  gold  piece,  which,  accidentally  hit- 
ting the  songstress  behind  the  ear,  knocked  her  senseless. 

But  none  of  these  spectacular  things  befell  our  men. 
They  merely  "went  broke,"  in  commonplaceness,  though 
with  rapidity.  The  following  day,  the  members  of  the  party 
made,  in  the  order  of  their  entering  insolvency,  announce- 
ment of  their  intended  departure;  and,  after  being  donated 
a  farewell  drink,  mounted  and  ruefully  "hit  the  trail"  for 
the  ranch  and  six  months  more  of  work. 

The  men  had  come  into  the  town  boldly,  but  they  faded 
out  of  it. 

All  of  the  party  had  gone  except  one  man.  He  was  leav- 
ing the  Range  forever,  to  go  to  some  city  "back  East," 
and  enter  a  prosaic  but  profitable  office.  He  stood,  gazing 
sadly  at  the  distant  rear-guard  of  his  late  companions. 
There  staggered  up  to  him  a  cowboy  whom  he  never  before 
had  seen,  a  cowboy  befuddled  in  speech  but  not  in  heart, 
a  cowboy  who,  taking  one  look  at  a  troubled  face,  asserted : 


BREAKING  HORSES  299 

*'Say,  stranger,  you're  out  of  luck.    I've  got  four  bits  left. 
Here's  half  of  it.    Hell,  no.    Here's  aU  of  it." 

Such  was  the  spirit  of  the  Western  Plains  in  the  days 
when  lariats  were  freely  swinging. 


CHAPTER  XV 

RUSTLING 

early  stealing — lincoln  county  war — ^nesters — beginning  of  rus- 
tling— definitions — sentiments  permitting  rustling — range-dwell- 
ers— their  several  attitudes  toward  rustling — ^rustlers*  methods 
— ^Wyoming's  rustler  war — its  significance 

In  the  earlier  days  of  ranching,  the  stealing  of  live  stock 
was  accomplished  by  the  simple  and  direct  means  of  openly 
riding  up  to  it  and  driving  it  away.  The  transaction  might 
be  thus  im varnished,  or  it  might  be  ''decorated  with  gun 
play/' 

This  thievery  might  be  effected  by  a  single  individual 
or  by  an  organized  band.  In  this  latter  phase,  small,  local 
civil  wars  occasionally  were  fought. 

New  Mexico  suffered  the  worst  of  these  belligerencies; 
as,  after  criminals  had  begun  to  gnaw  at  John  Chisholm's 
cattle,  the  men  of  an  entire  county  took  sides,  and  at  least 
two  hundred  of  them  in  a  struggle  of  slow,  sniping  attri- 
tion were  "passed  ouf  by  bullets.  An  exact  count  was 
never  made;  and,  for  years  afterward,  here  and  there  in 
box  canyons  or  between  high  rocks,  wayfarers  would  stum- 
ble on  grinning  skulls  with  a  round  hole  between  the  sockets 
for  the  eyes.  Such  was  the  "Lincoln  County  War.'*  The 
contiguous  New  Mexican  counties  of  Lincoln  and  Dona 
Ana  truly  were  splashed  with  blood. 

The  Rio  Grande  too  knew  murder.  International  rob- 
bery never  has  been  good-natured. 

In  these  civil  wars,  steaUng  or  its  prevention  sometimes 
was  the  primary  object.  At  other  times,  the  steahng  was 
tacked  as  an  incidental  matter  onto  a  campaign  against 
encroaching  sheepmen  or  farmers  or  onto  a  feud  between 
two  ranchers  of  horses  or  cattle.    Then  a  better  class  of 

300 


RUSTLING  301 

men  was  drawn  into  it  and  the  robber  was  apt  to  saJve 
his  conscience  with  the  thought  that  he  was  merely  col- 
lecting the  money-cost  of  efforts  made  in  support  of  a  moral 
cause. 

Thus  arose  the  bloody,  Texan  struggle  between  the  local 
ranchmen  and  the  "nesters,"  sometimes  called  ^'nestlers.'* 
These  nesters,  individually  small  farmers,  and  in  the  main 
immigrants  largely  of  Germanic  birth,  had  obtained  by 
State  grant  or  by  other  means  scattered  parcels  of  farming 
land.  Each  of  these  farmers,  acting  on  the  faith  of  ostensi- 
ble, legal  title,  threw  about  his  little  tract  a  fence  that  cut 
off  from  pubhc  use  whatever  waterhole  was  within  the  tract. 
The  little  farm  so  fenced  was,  by  the  local  cattlemen,  con- 
temptuously termed  a  ''nest."  These  cattlemen,  with 
despotic  lordliness,  not  only  fenced  their  own  lands;  but 
also,  ignoring  both  law  and  the  theory  of  an  open  Range, 
fenced  where  they  chose;  and  not  infrequently  embraced 
in  their  enclosures  one  or  more  already  established  nests. 
This  loosed  the  fence-cutter  and  the  Winchester,  and  there 
began  wholesale  pilfering  of  hve  stock.  Both  sides  were 
at  fault,  and  so  were  compelled  to  compromise.  Accord- 
ingly the  ruction  eventually  worked  itself  onto  a  peaceful 
if  jealous  basis  whereon  each  faction  began  to  observe  the 
law. 

By  the  commencement  of  the  decade  of  the  eighties,  the 
Cattle  Country  had  grown  tired  of  bald  raidings,  of  the 
disciples  of  Slade,  Watkins,  Lacey,  Arnett,  Spillman,  Henry 
Plmnmer,  Bignose  George,  Dutch  Charley,  Opium  Bob, 
and  Billy  the  Kid.  WTierefore  it  purchased  additional  car- 
tridges and  further  hempen  rope,  *'took"  some  criminals, 
"got"  more  of  them,  and  quite  thoroughly  ended  stealing 
done  in  flagrant,  primitive  form. 

Promptly  appeared  the  wiley  "rustler,"  who  by  more 
indirect  and  intelligent  methods  increased  the  total  of  the 
annual  pilf  erings. 


302  THE  COWBOY 

But,  before  entering  upon  that  subject,  one  well  may 
turn  to  those  two  picturesque  Western  words,  "took"  and 
"got."  The  law  sent  out  its  sheriff,  "took"  a  man,  and 
tried  him.  The  citizens  "dug  for  their  guns,"  "got"  their 
man,  and  examined  his  corpse. 

To  understand  "rustling,"  one  first  must  consider  the 
public  sentiment  which  made  its  existence  and  scope  pos- 
sible; and,  as  a  prerequisite  to  this  consideration,  one  should 
weigh  certain  underlying  principles  which  at  first  blush 
well  might  seem  wholly  unrelated. 

Every  Westerner  was  an  intense  individualist,  and  de- 
manded exclusive  management  of  his  personal  affairs.  At 
the  same  time,  having  no  curiosity  whatever  as  to  the  pri- 
vate matters  of  other  people,  he  was  perfectly  willing  that 
these  other  people  should  do  as  they  liked,  provided  they 
neither  improperly  interfered  with  his  rights  nor  contra- 
vened such  of  the  tenets  of  the  Cattle  Country's  code  of 
ethics  as  the  West  deemed  to  be  vital  and  fundamental  both 
to  the  maintenance  of  life  and  hberty  and  to  the  pursuit  of 
happiness. 

He  was  ready  and  usually  willing,  for  his  own  actions, 
to  account  to  the  ultimate  authorities  of  competent  juris- 
diction, namely  his  God  and  the  officials  of  either  State  or 
federal  government;  and  he  assimied  that,  when  his  neigh- 
bors felt  impelled  to  make  a  relatively  similar  reckoning, 
they  would,  without  appeal  to  his  advice,  ascertain  where 
confession  should  be  made,  and  would  act  accordingly.  It 
never  occurred  to  him  that  he  might  be  his  brother's  keeper, 
and  he  knew  how  he  himself  would  feel,  if  any  one,  even  an 
intimate  friend,  "butted  into"  his  concerns. 

So  set  was  the  disinclination  of  every  Westerner  to  in- 
trude into  other  folks'  affairs,  that  he  volunteered  to  the 
public  officers  practically  no  assistance,  save  in  such  mat- 
ters as  pertained  to  his  own  cattle  and  horses. 

Even   though   a  notorious  robber  had   quizzically  an- 


RUSTLING  303 

nounced  that  the  Union  Pacific  Raihoad  was  running  its 
trains  too  rapidly  for  public  convenience,  or  that  his  *'side 
pardner/'  Skinny  Joe  or  Black  Bart,  either  had  a  contract 
to  revise  the  schedule  of  the  Santa  F^  Railway  or  else  was 
to  act  as  head  flagman  on  the  Oregon  Short  Line,  it  would 
not  have  occurred  to  any  citizen  of  the  Cattle  Country  to 
forewarn  the  sheriff  or  even  the  representatives  of  the 
threatened  railway.  The  citizen's  view-point  would  have 
been  that  these  representatives  "shore  knew  about  it,''  or 
''shore  would  learn  about  it";  would  notify  the  sheriff, 
and  would  otherwise  sufficiently  protect  themselves,  or,  if 
unable  to  do  so,  would  call  upon  the  pubhc  for  aid. 

However,  for  a  while  the  citizen  idly  would  have  scanned 
the  headings  of  whatever  newspapers  he  ran  across,  to  dis- 
cover if  possible  whether  the  robbing  Squint-Eye  had 
''pulled  it  off,"  or,  instead,  had  lost  his  entire  head  before 
the  short-barrelled,  nail-loaded  shotgun  of  some  alert  Wells, 
Fargo  messenger.  Whether  Skinny  Joe  had  "made  good," 
or  "had  shore  got  his'n"  would  also  have  been  worth  mak- 
ing desultory  effort  to  ascertain.  But  all  these  transactions 
would  have  seemed  as  impersonal,  foreign,  and  unimportant 
as  though  Squint-Eye,  Black  Bart,  or  Skinny  Joe  had  been 
an  Eskimo,  and,  amid  the  Arctic  ice,  had  attempted  to 
purloin  a  piece  of  seal  meat  from  an  oil-soaked  tribes- 
man. 

If  any  old-timer  in  the  West  had  heard  that  there  was 
about  to  be  robbed  a  bank  with  the  management  or  owner- 
ship of  which  he  was  not  connected,  he  would  not  for  a  mo- 
ment have  thought  of  informing  the  cashier.  The  old-timer 
would  have  felt  sure  that  if  he  gave  warning,  the  bank's  of- 
ficials would  have  ground  to  complain  that  too  many  people 
were  trying  to  "play  in  the  game,"  and  that  he  himself  was 
"feeding  off  his  own  range."  The  old-timer's  view-point 
would  have  been  that,  if  he  knew  of  the  prospective 
"party,"  the  officials  doubtless  either  also  did  or  else  would 


304  THE  COWBOY 

obtain  foreknowledge;    and,  if  they  wanted  his  aid,  they 
would  send  for  him. 

If  they  ultimately  had  sent  for  him,  he  would  have  gone, 
as  he  would  have  gone  at  the  call  of  the  railroads  when 
Squint-Eye  or  Skinny  Joe  ''held  them  up,"  and  this  on  the 
instant  and,  if  need  be,  ready  to  die.  But,  if  his  assistance 
had  not  been  requested,  he  would  have  displayed  in  the 
matter  no  more  activity  than  some  day  to  inquire  how  far 
the  safe  door  had  flown. 

These  men  were  not  thus  close-mouthed  in  order  to  con- 
ceal any  crime  which  they  themselves  approved,  had  com- 
mitted, or  were  about  to  commit.  The  vast  majority  of 
them  had  intentions  of  the  strictest  honesty.  They  merely 
had  a  dread  of  ''horning-in." 

The  West  was  then  not  yet  old  enough  to  realize  that  uni- 
versal protection  came  only  out  of  concerted  action. 

This  close-mouthedness,  this  non-interest  in  other  people's 
doings  was  the  principal  factor  in  opening  the  Range  to 
the  rustler's  trade. 

This  factor  had  a  companion,  full  advantage  of  which 
was  taken  by  the  thieves,  particularly  by  such  of  them  as 
''did  not  come  West  for  their  health. ''  This  put-upon  com- 
panion was  the  kindly,  tolerant  pleasure  which  the  Cattle 
Country  derived  from  seeing  any  "likely  young  man" 
"get  a  start  in  life"  and  "get  ahead." 

To  any  one  in  the  West  the  government  gave,  without 
charge,  title  to  lands,  and  use  of  grass  and  water,  and  also 
said,  in  effect:  "I  shall  make  you  a  gift  of  minerals,  of  fire- 
wood, and  of  all  the  wild  meat  you  possibly  can  eat,  if  you 
but  go  and  find  them." 

Under  such  conditions,  there  was  not  a  brutally  out- 
standing, brilliantly  clear-cut  fine  of  moral  demarcation 
between,  on  the  one  hand,  a  noble-looking  wapiti  that  fifty 
million  people  had  donated  to  whoever  wanted  it  and,  on 
the  other  hand,  a  scrubby,  anaemic  calf  that  claimed  either 
to  belong  to  a  distant  English  earl  who  had  no  knowledge 


RUSTLING  305 

that  he  owned  the  beast,  and  seemingly  did  not  care,  or  else 
to  belong  to  a  '^ snotty  city  chap,"  who  patronized  his-  fel- 
low ranchers  and  deserved  a  ' 'taking  down." 

The  owners  of  the  hve  stock  fell  into  two  classes,  the 
locally  popular  and  the  locally  disliked. 

The  latter  group  was  made  up  in  part  of  non-residents 
who,  spending  the  major  portion  of  their  time  in  England 
or  upon  America's  Atlantic  coast,  Uved  upon  their  ranches 
only  during  short  and  widely  separated  periods.  Their 
visits  frequently  were  restricted  to  the  autumnal  seasons 
when  big-game  shooting  was  at  its  best.  Such  men,  because 
they  failed  to  reside  in  the  West,  and,  when  there,  used 
the  Range  largely  as  a  shooting  cover  or  private  country 
club,  were  assumed  to  regard  their  holdings  as  an  incidental 
luxury,  not  to  be  financially  dependent  on  them,  and  not 
to  feel  the  pinch  if  any  of  their  stock  were  '^  borrowed"  by 
acquisitive  persons. 

The  West  had  the  same  mental  attitude  toward  such 
corporations  as,  being  of  size,  were  owned  by  numerous  and 
scattered  stockholders.  These  corporations  also  lacked  the 
cogent,  tangible  element  of  a  man  who  stayed  on  the  spot 
and  ''had  his  pocketbook  in  his  herd." 

The  second  unpopular  group  was  composed  of  such  local 
residents  as  both  did  not  fit  into  the  scenery,  and  also  pal- 
pably were  intending  a  stay  of  but  at  most  a  few  years' 
duration. 

The  Old  West  hved  in  its  then  to-day,  and  planned  for 
its  then  to-morrow,  but,  except  for  recollections  of  Range 
tenets  and  of  human  friendships,  its  yesterday  was  but 
vaguely  remembered,  while  its  last  week  was  for  it  as  re- 
mote almost  as  when  Julius  Caesar  lived.  The  Cattle  Coun- 
try recalled  every  word  and  comma  of  its  unwritten  code, 
it  recalled  the  looks  and  statements  of  its  dead  friends,  and 
right  there  it  "plumb  petered  out,"  on  any  aflSrmative  in- 
terest in  history. 

The  graded  Herefords  or  Short  Horns  before  a  youthful 


306  THE  COWBOY 

rustler^s  eyes  bore  the  brand  of,  say,  the  English  Middlesex 
and  Montana  Ranch.  The  young  man  probably  restricted 
his  reflections  to  calves,  to  pocketed  telegraph  wire,  and 
to  trails.  But,  if  his  thoughts  drifted  into  scholarly  chan- 
nels, he  foggily  called  to  mind  that  the  Spanish  had  aban- 
doned a  lot  of  live  stock,  and  that  it  had  spread  about  the 
plains,  and  he  concluded  that  the  Englishmen  must  have 
done  a  few  years  before  a  ''right  smart  lot  of  roping.''  Then 
he  hazily  decided  that,  if  the  Englishmen  had  been  so  sel- 
fishly wholesale  in  their  acquisitions,  it  could  do  no  harm 
if  he  himself  were  merely  to  nibble  at  the  herd  which,  though 
the  English  now  claimed,  the  Spaniards  earlier  had  owned 
and  thrown  away. 

•  And  yet,  in  the  very  locality  where  the  only  surely  safe 
repository  for  a  calf  was  a  bank's  deposit-box,  a  man's  sad- 
dle, pistol,  clothing,  money  could,  with  impunity  and  with- 
out guard,  be  left  beside  the  trail. 

The  recital  thus  far  has  disclosed  that,  in  a  country  where 
the  government  made  almost  all  necessities  free,  there  wan- 
dered about  huge  herds  of  animals,  which  in  some  part  were 
recognized  as  legally  belonging  to  people  that  were  supposed 
to  merit  chastening,  and  in  other  part,  thanks  to  the  Span- 
iard, were  assumed  to  pertain  morally,  despite  the  brands, 
to  nobody  in  particular;  that,  in  this  country,  were  im- 
pecunious, virile  men  whose  desire  to  arrive  at  honored 
position  was  pubhcly  acclaimed,  and  whose  path  for  travel- 
ling thither  was  Uttle  scrutinized,  seldom  fully  known  or 
much  discussed. 

For  another  purpose  of  this  present  writing,  the  inhabi- 
tants of  the  Cattle  Country  were  separable  into  five  classes. 

Of  these  classes,  the  first  represented  men  who  were  un- 
compromising advocates  of  law,  were  of  absolute  integrity, 
and  who  scorned  either  to  aggrandize  themselves  through 
any  dishonesty  or  to  give  consciously  the  sUghtest  aid  to 
others  in  the  latter's  wrongful  doings. 


RUSTLING  307 

The  second  class  was  composed  of  men  who,  while  equally 
set  against  improper  personal  gain,  would,  because  of  less 
stanch  admiration  for  law,  extend  a  bit  of  passive  or  even 
active  assistance  to  a  friend  who  personally  was  engaged  in 
''picking  up  a  few  ownerless  animals." 

Men  of  the  third  class  were  Hke  those  of  the  second,  ex- 
cept that  these  men  of  the  third  class  were  more  easy-going 
in  character,  and  were  wilHng  to  ''skim  a  Httle  cream  "  them- 
selves provided  it  hurt  no  "real  Westerner." 

The  fourth  class  brings  us  to  the  man  who  in  more  or 
less  degree  resented  affirmatively  the  restrictions  of  the 
law,  and  who,  if  he  wanted  beef,  "went  and  got  it,"  though 
to  his  credit  it  must  be  said  that  he  usually  first  visited  the 
imdesirables'  ranches,  and  generally  spared  the  widow, 
orphan,  and  poor.  He  conunonly  was  as  trustworthy  to  his 
neighbor  as  were  the  men  of  the  two  immediately  prior 
classes,  excepting  only  that  he  was  constantly  "sentimental 
about  cows,"  and  temperamentally  "couldn't  help  making 
love  to  them." 

The  fifth  class,  numerically  the  smallest,  was  restricted 
to  the  thieves  as  the  novelists  depict  them,  and  was  com- 
prised of  men  who  would  steal  five  stock  from  almost  any 
one,  and  who  would  take  "even  a  sheep." 

But  even  many  of  these  last-mentioned  men  had  redeem- 
ing characteristics,  and  were  treated  accordingly.  With 
the  better  of  them,  if  they  limited  their  peculations  to 
reasonable  quantity,  the  Range  shut  one  eye  and  said: 
"Jim,  you  eat  too  much  meat,  and  need  exercise.  Come 
up  to  the  ranch,  and  I'll  give  you  a  permanent  job."  The 
Range  did  so,  because  it  knew  that  Jim  would  be  faithful 
unto  death  in  everything  except  in  matters  of  cowhide, 
and  possibly  also  his  treatment  of  stages  and  railway  trains. 
If  Jim's  appetite  in  time  were  not  duly  curbed,  he  would 
be  given  the  address  of  a  distant  State  and  kindly  but  firmly 
advised  to  "hunt  it  up." 


308  THE  COWBOY 

A  few  of  this  fifth  class  were  truly  anarchistic,  *'had  snake 
blood,"  in  them,  were  in  fact  ''bad  men,"  and  therefore 
had  not  the  backing  of  the  Range.  Sooner  or  later  they 
would  go  the  way  of  all  ''bad  men,"  and  would  disap- 
pear. 

For  the  sake  of  subsequent  brevity,  the  men  of  these 
various  five  classes  will  be  hereinafter  arbitrarily  designated 
by  the  several  letters.  A,  B,Cy  D,  and  Ej  the  letter  A  repre- 
senting the  first  class,  B  the  second,  and  so  on.  For  the 
sake  of  clear  understanding,  let  us  keep  in  mind  the  prin- 
ciples already  discussed,  particularly  the  one  to  the  effect 
that  "other  people's  business  is  none  of  mine."  Then  we 
shall  be  prepared  to  fathom  the  subject  of  wholesale  rus- 
thng. 

A  "low  down,  snake-blooded"  E  started  to  "gather" 
from  anybody's  stock,  and  raided  the  widow  and  orphan. 
All  of  A,  B,  C,  some  of  decent  D,  and  a  temporarily  regen- 
erated E  "went  looking  for  him,"  for  he  had  raised  his  hand 
against  the  Range. 

A  decent  E  began  a  modest  "collection,"  from  the  herds 
of  disliked  owners,  i.  e.,  from  permissible  sources.  During 
the  acquirement  of  so  much  of  his  "collection"  as  the  public 
tacitly  sanctioned,  very  likely  B,  C,  and  D  helped  him  to 
rope  animals  and  to  alter  brands;  C,  if  a  well-liked  in- 
dividual, reserving  as  a  commission  a  single  comely  beast; 
D  withholding  on  this  score  all  that  E  would  let  him  have. 
Very  possibly  the  entire  party,  on  its  way  to  or  from  the 
piracy,  stopped  for  a  night  at  A's  ranch.  Of  course,  there 
was  made  to  A  no  mention  of  the  expedition's  purpose. 
It  was  none  of  his  business,  for  neither  he  nor  any  other 
"real  person"  was  to  be  or  had  been  looted.  But  A,  by 
Range  custom,  was  ready  to  house  all  passing  travellers, 
good,  bad,  and  indifferent,  and  to  ask  no  questions. 

Presently  the  public,  thinking  that  decent  E  had  made 
sufficient   acquirement,   warned   him   to   "throw   on   the 


RUSTLING  309 

brakes."  If  he  obeyed,  the  matter  was  ended.  If  he  did 
not  hearken,  he  moved  to  another  State. 

Z),  in  his  own  efforts,  would  receive  still  more  extensive 
aid  from  B  and  C,  and  would  be  allowed  a  larger  looting. 

There  was  a  generally  popular  C,  who  jauntily  saUied 
forth  on  his  own  account  and  ^'picked  some  blossoms." 
B  worked  like  a  dog  for  him,  while  the  Range  smiled,  said 
nothing,  did  nothing,  for  the  Range  knew  that  C  would 
never  ''overplay  his  hand."  But  no  disliked  C  or  D  could, 
without  the  Range's  imphed  consent,  be  ''careless  with  his 
branding-iron." 

As  already  stated,  overt  stock-raiding,  so-called  "brass- 
band  stealing,"  had  ceased  by  the  conunencement  of  the 
eighties,  to  be  succeeded  immediately  by  the  more  finished 
methods  of  highly  speciaUzed  rustling.  For  some  ten  years 
this  rustling  continued  in  a  widely  spread  but  somewhat 
desultory  manner.  During  that  period  the  operations  in 
each  State  were  largely  confined  to  its  own  citizens,  its  mem- 
bers of  our  alphabet  below  the  letter  A.  The  herds  of  well- 
liked  owners  were  left  quite  inviolate;  but  our  letters  By 
C,  D,  and  E  modestly  whittled  away  at  the  holdings  of  the 
EngHsh  and  other  vacationers,  and  occasionally  were  killed 
while  at  their  work. 

In  this  period  the  owners  sowed  seed  for  future  trouble, 
because  they  began  the  system  of  paying  bonuses  to  cow- 
boys for  finding  mavericks,  and  later  not  only  abolished 
the  system,  but  also,  on  some  ranges,  forbade  cowpunchers 
to  own  Uve  stock. 

This  prohibition  against  owning  live  stock  was  in  strict 
accord  with  the  tendency  which  the  entire  West  possessed, 
and  incidentally  which  obtained  in  various  Eastern  States, 
the  tendency  to  enact  remedial  laws  of  sweeping  effect  and 
general  application,  and  to  expect  the  laws  to  enforce  them- 
selves, and  also  to  enact  laws  without  first  considering  as 
to  whether  or  not  they  probably  would  prove  enforceable. 


310  THE  COWBOY 

The  prohibition  availed  nothing  toward  checking  steal-  j 
ing,  because  the  punchers  had,  in  their  bonuses,  already 
tasted  monetary  blood. 

The  pilfering  methods  used  by  rustlers  were  both  the 
altering  of  brands,  and  also  the  wrongful  branding  of 
thitherto  unbranded  animals;  followed,  in  either  case,  by 
separating  from  their  mothers  such  of  these  misbranded 
brutes  as  were  maternally  escorted,  this  last  to  insure  that 
there  be  no  combination  of  close  companionship  and  di- 
vergent markings  wherewith  to  advertise  that  '^  bossy  had 
a  stepfather."  This  separation  was  achieved  by  impounding 
in  isolated  corrals  such  of  the  youngsters  as  showed  fiUal 
affection,  and  keeping  them  there  until  weaned  away  from 
their  mothers,  or  by  searing  or  scarifying  the  soles  of  the 
mother's  hoofs  to  prevent  her  from  following  her  baby 
when  it  was  led  away,  or  else  by  the  very  direct  method  of 
shooting  the  mother  and  thereby  ''pinning  crape  on  the  kid." 

Meanwhile,  paralleUng  the  Union  Pacific  Railway,  an- 
other transcontinental  railway,  the  Northern  Pacific,  had 
been  built  across  the  Cattle  Country;  but  the  buffalo  had 
lasted  long  enough  to  feed  the  railway's  constructors,  so 
the  cattle  had  not  as  yet  been  much  cut  into.  Nevertheless, 
these  very  buffalo  had  created  a  menace,  for  they  had  called 
together  numerous  men  of  a  curious  type,  the  queer  beings 
who  earned  their  livelihood  either  by  killing  buffalo  for 
their  skins  or  by  merely  collecting  the  dead  buffaloes'  bones. 
When  ''skinning"  and  "bone-picking"  ended,  the  men  of 
those  trades  were  ripe  for  the  rusthng  of  cattle. 

Meanwhile  there  was  pushing,  in  quantity  and  over  the 
edges  of  the  Range,  a  new  type  of  citizen  or  prospective 
citizen,  the  small  farmer,  who  frequently  was  fresh  from 
Europe.  He  already  was  or  quickly  became  sufliciently 
"Americanized"  as  to  look  with  envy  upon  the  wandering 
assets  of  the  earlier  settlers. 

Soon   still   another  railway,    the   Burlington's  Western 


RUSTLING  311 

extension,  was  projected  into  Wyoming,  and  so  into  the 
very  heart  of  the  Range.  It  attracted  to  itself  workers 
from  distant  places,  and,  in  addition,  unloaded  at  its  ad- 
vancing railhead  not  only  legitimate  farmers  but  also  many 
of  those  unwelcome  characters  who  haunt  the  rails  yet 
shrink  from  steady  or  honest  work.  Of  the  men  who  came 
to  fill  construction  jobs,  some  proved  inefficient  and  were 
discharged. 

There  thus  seeped  out  among  the  cattle  a  new  lot  of  citi- 
zens containing  a  leaven  made  of  persons  possessed  of  then 
as  yet  dormant  criminal  instincts,  made  also  of  fugitives 
from  the  justice  of  far-off  States,  made  also  of  men  who, 
out  of  jobs,  turned  to  rustUng  for  intended  temporary  liveli- 
hood, but,  once  in  the  dishonest  calling,  would  not  quit  it. 

While  the  leaven  of  these  human  misfits  was  filtering  into 
the  coimtry,  the  political  leaders  were  stirring  the  newly  ar- 
rived farmers  to  have  active  interest  in  citizenship,  and  to 
exercise  its  duty,  the  casting  of  the  vote.  Simultaneously, 
political  demagogues  were  descanting  upon  the  themes  that 
all  these  recent  comers  were  the  '^real  people  of  the  land," 
and  that  the  herds  which  these  recent  comers  saw  repre- 
sented wealth  improperly  withheld  from  them. 

Eventually,  in  Wyoming,  the  small  farmers,  with  the 
perhaps  unnecessary,  but  nevertheless  enthusiastic,  assis- 
tance of  the  ne^er-do-wells,  held  all  the  public  offices  in 
an  entire  county,  and  thus  controlled  the  issuance  and  dis- 
position of  all  its  judicial  process,  a  process  that  was  prone 
not  to  attack  the  rustlers  but  was  disposed  to  deal  curtly 
with  long- vested  interests. 

But  all  the  disgruntled  of  the  small  farmers  and  all  the 
confirmed  thieves  within  Wyoming  could  not  have  gashed 
the  stock  industry  as  it  presently  was  gashed,  if  it  had  not 
been  that  such  of  our  above  friends  from  the  alphabet  as 
lived  within  that  State  had  the  moral  attitudes  hereinbe- 
fore described,  and  that  the  truly  Americanized  of  the  new 


312  THE  COWBOY 

immigrants  already  had  distributed  themselves  among 
those  various  lettered  classes. 

The  railhead  of  the  new  railway,  the  Burlington,  pushed 
further  into  the  Wyoming  Range.  There  were  no  buffalo 
for  the  railway's  builders  to  eat.  Some  unrecorded,  enter- 
prising youth,  who  previously  had  outgrown  the  tedious 
process  of  stealing  calves,  rebranding  them,  raising  them 
to  maturity,  and  then  smuggling  them  into  legitimate  East- 
bound  channels,  who  later  had  adopted  the  more  direct 
method  of  shooting  adult  animals,  skinning  them,  destroy- 
ing either  the  telltale  markings  of  the  hide  or  else  the  entire 
hide,  and  delivering  the  carcasses  to  butchers  in  the  farm- 
ers' little  towns,  now  made  a  great  discovery.  It  was 
that  the  layers  of  ties,  the  drivers  of  spikes,  the  shovellers 
of  dirt,  in  fact  everybody  in  the  construction  camps  of  the 
railway  had  unlimited  capacity  for  eating  fresh  meat. 

Immediately  eastern  Wyoming  ran  amuck.  Except  for 
such  of  the  old-timers  as  were  austerely  honest,  and  except 
for  such  men  of  the  absentee  landlord  type  as  happened  to 
be  within  the  State,  the  male  inhabitants  in  an  astonish- 
ingly large  proportion  madly  turned  to  rustling.  Such  of 
the  better  element  as  engaged  in  it  did  so  with  a  grin,  some- 
times with  no  more  definite  purpose  than  a  lark,  but  usually 
as  a  means  of  ^'getting  hunk"  with  some  well-to-do  but 
hated  rancher.  The  other  participants  were  actuated  by 
resentment  against  wealth  or  by  afltoiative  desire  for  gain, 
and,  in  the  latter  case,  materially  differed  in  the  amounts 
of  their  cupidity. 

Almost  every  man  of  strong  dislikes  and  weak  conscience 
joined  with  his  more  ignoble  brothers  in  devastating  such 
of  the  large  herds  as  belonged  to  unpopular  owners,  and  in 
selling  to  the  railway  contractors  the  meat  of  '^slow  elk" 
and  ^'big  antelope."  This  movement,  among  the  more 
dishonorable  rustlers,  extended  first  to  raiding  any  large 
herd  and,  later,  on  the  simple  theory  that  ''beef  was  beef," 


RUSTLING  313 

to  ignoring  completely  the  question  of  identity  of  owner- 
ship. 

The  movement  became  so  well  established  as  to  have  a 
jargon  of  its  own.  The  movement  had  also  militant  apostles 
in  the  ^'waddies,"  men  faithful  to  the  illegal  art  of  rus- 
tling; and  these,  by  the  weapon  of  derision,  tried  to  wean 
honest  punchers  from  protection  of  their  employers'  in- 
terests. These  honest  chaps  were  taunted  with  wiUingness 
to  '^ slave,"  to  be  ^'peoned  out,"  to  be  '^ servants,"  to  be 
^4ow  down  enough  to  carry  a  bucket  of  sheep  dip,"  to  be 
''sheep-herders  at  heart,"  and,  if  in  English  employ,  to 
''shine  coronets."  They  sneeringly  were  termed  "sheep- 
dippers,"  "bucket  men,"  "pliers  men,"  "saints,"  and  again, 
if  in  English  employ,  "royal  crowns." 

The  more  sober-minded  citizens  began  to  realize  that 
the  very  hfe  of  the  cattle  industry  was  threatened. 

Suddenly  there  happened  an  event  which  brought  the 
whole  situation  to  a  focus  and  resolved  it  into  sanity.  In 
1892,  some  of  the  larger  suffering  ranches  laimched  from 
Cheyenne  an  armed  expedition  which  was  intended  to  ex- 
terminate certain  of  the  rustlers.  This  expedition  presently 
opened  fire  upon  the  ranch  of  a  man  accused  of  being  a 
"waddy."  Forthwith  many  of  the  smaller  ranchers  and 
of  the  farmers  hastened  to  reheve  the  threatened  thieves. 
Out  came  the  local  sheriff  with  a  posse,  which  was  exceed- 
ingly large,  and  in  which  were  many  "waddies." 

Throughout  the  whole  affair,  but  a  few  shots  flew,  but 
two  men  fell.  United  States  cavalry  cut  short  the  hostili- 
ties.   Yet  the  episode  had  affirmative  result. 

The  relative  numbers  of  the  people  ahgning  with  the  sev- 
eral factions  showed  conclusively  that  the  old  order  had 
ended,  that  the  Range  had  ceased  to  be  a  pohtical  entity 
and  had  been  apportioned  among  the  States,  that  the  cat- 
tle kings  had  forever  ceased  to  rule,  that  the  control  of 
what  had  been  the  Cattle  Country  had  passed  from  the 


314  THE  COWBOY 

herd-owners  and  top  riders  to  the  farmer  recently  from 
New  Jersey,  the  clerk  just  come  from  an  Ohio  village,  the 
shopkeeper  who,  through  unreasoning  fear  of  Indians,  had 
long  delayed  his  immigration  from  Iowa,  the  settler  newly 
arrived  from  Europe  and  armed  with  his  first  papers  of 
naturaUzation. 

The  Old  West  had  passed.    The  New  West  had  come. 

Thereupon  such  of  the  robbed  ranchers  as  were  not  in 
entirety  of  old-time  Western  spirit  disposed  of  the  wreck- 
age of  their  holdings,  and  retired  both  from  the  industry 
of  raising  stock  and  from  the  country  where  their  animals 
had  ranged. 

The  men  who  continued  in  the  business  came  into  closer 
mutual  relationship  with  one  another.  They  were  joined 
by  the  better  class  of  men  among  the  rustlers;  and,  through 
a  revitalized  machinery  for  the  guarding  of  the  cattle  in- 
dustry, there  was  soon  suppressed  the  steaUng  which  the 
more  confirmed  rustlers  had  endeavored  to  continue. 

Very  presently,  by  reason  of  increased  activity  in  polic- 
ing throughout  the  West,  rusthng  became  everywhere  there 
virtually  extinct. 

Those  happenings  in  Wyoming  terminated  by  that  shoot- 
ing, which  was  the  so-called  '* Rustler  War,^'  or  ''Johnson 
County  Raid,''  had  a  distinct  poUtical  and  social  signifi- 
cance. That  final  burst  of  thieving  represented,  for  some 
of  its  performers,  mere  robbing;  for  others,  a  reckless,  rol- 
hcking  lark;  for  others,  opportunity  for  punishment  or 
revenge;  but,  for  the  majority,  an  uprising  against  concen- 
trated wealth;  and,  at  the  end,  it  signified  an  accomplished, 
social  and  political  revolution. 

Though  Wyoming  alone  pitted  armed  man  against  armed 
man  to  decide  a  fundamental  problem,  all  the  other  Western 
States  sooner  or  later  arrived  at  the  same  conclusion  that 
Wyoming  did  in  Johnson  County  in  1892.  From  the  Mis- 
souri River  to  the  Sierra  Nevadas,  the  open  Range  as  a 


RUSTLING  315 

dominant,  political  entity  passed  into  history.  True,  there- 
after cattle-owners  as  such  had  great  poUtical  power;  but, 
to  obtain  results,  they  often  had  to  seek  the  assistance  of 
the  farmers,  of  the  townspeople,  and,  at  times,  ye  gods! 
of  the  sheepmen.  It  was  a  power  which,  though  able  still 
to  make  a  legislature  hesitate,  was  no  longer  capable  of 
imperious  dictation  from  a  horse's  back. 
The  open  Range  had  everywhere  overstayed  its  leave. 


CHAPTER  XVI 
TRAILING 

RIDINO  SIGN — TRAILING — COWBOYS'  PARTICIPATION — AXIOMS — ^PACTJL- 
TIE8  INVOLVED — OBJECTIVES — OBSERVATION — VISUAL  "SIQNS" — AUDIBLE 
WARNINGS — SMELL — TOUCH — DEFINITIONS — DETERMINING  AGE — PSYCHO- 
LOGICAL FACTORS — EXPLORATION — FALUBILITT 

* 'Riding  sign  "  was  one  of  the  duties  of  the  cowboy.  This 
act  of  following  the  track  which  had  been  made  by  an  ear- 
Her  traveller,  whether  man  or  four-footed  animal,  was  guided 
by  the  same  principles  as  those  that  had  been  adopted  by 
the  scouts  against  Indians.  The  act  was  termed  by  the 
scouts  either  'trailing"  or  else  '' following  sign,'^  and  by 
the  cowboys  ''riding  sign.*' 

Some  of  the  cowboys  were  extremely  proficient  in  pur- 
suing trails;  but  of  course  few  of  them  rose  to  the  highly 
specialized  ability  of  the  men  who  as  Indian  scouts  devoted 
their  lives  to  this  one  function.  These  scouts,  as  one  of 
them,  James  Bridger,  remarked,  preserved  their  scalps  by 
tjdng  them  to  their  brains,  and  as  another  of  them,  John 
Yancey,  said,  were  taught  in  a  school  in  which  the  Indians 
periodically  conducted  examinations,  and  in  which  any 
scholar  who  flunked  was  scalped. 

Nevertheless,  cowboys  working  upon  the  open  Range 
had  in  the  main  to  abide  by  the  same  methods  as  those 
which  were  employed  by  these  Indian  scouts,  and  had  been 
copied  by  the  latter  from  the  Indians  themselves.  The 
principles  hereinafter  enunciated  were  those  utiUzed  by  the 
scouts;  and,  save  for  so  much  of  those  principles  as  related 
to  ascertaining  the  tribal  identity  of  the  makers  of  Indians' 
trails,  were  pursued  by  the  more  capable  trailing  cowboys, 

316 


TRAILING  317 

and  were  attempted  to  be  practised  by  all  cowboys  even 
though  they  were  called  upon  merely  to  ride  sign  after  live 
stock. 

Each  of  the  various  Indian  tribes  had  individual  and 
very  distinctive  peculiarities  in  its  equipment  and  in  the 
form  of  its  camp.  Usually  a  short  section  of  an  Indian  trail, 
and  always  an  Indian  camp,  or  even  the  mere  site  of  an 
abandoned  one,  disclosed  definitely  to  the  scout  the  identity 
of  the  tribe  involved.  But  only  in  Indian-infested  coim- 
try  did  the  cowboy  have  to  acquaint  himself  with  these 
distinguishing  technicalities. 

An  underlying  axiom  gave  to  trailing  practical  results. 
This  axiom  was  that  no  two  species  of  animal,  man  included, 
left  similar  trails;  and  that  no  two  animals  of  the  same 
species,  man  included,  could  so  divest  themselves  of  their 
several  individual  peculiarities  as  to  be  able  to  leave  trails 
that  were  wholly  alike. 

Trailing  was  no  more  or  less  than  detective  work.  Sher- 
lock Hohnes  of  English  fiction  would  have  been  a  great 
Indian  scout,  had  he  Uved  on  the  Western  plains.  Trail- 
ing involved  both  intensive  exercise  of  the  powers  of  ob- 
servation, and  also  careful  reasoning  from  the  facts  ob- 
served, this  reasoning  taking  into  consideration  at  times 
human  or  animal  psychology. 

The  powers  of  observation  employed  were,  in  the  order 
of  the  importance  of  their  services:  sight,  hearing,  scent, 
and  touch. 

The  trail  might  be  so  clearly  blazoned  as  to  be  self-evi- 
dent to  any  tyro.  Then  its  pursuit  was  so  facile  as  to 
amount  to  no  more  than,  in  the  scout^s  vernacular,  ^^sHding 
the  groove."  But,  when  the  inductive  facts  were  few  and 
appeared  at  widely  separated  points,  trailing  rose  to  the 
level  of  an  art. 

The  scout's  work  might  have  either  one  of  two  objec- 
tives, namely,  the  overtaking  of  a  living  fugitive  or  else  the 


318  THE  COWBOY 

reaching  of  a  definite  spot  upon  the  map.  These  two  ob- 
jectives called  for  very  differing  methods  of  procedure. 

The  first,  the  chase,  required  for  probability  of  success 
that  the  quarry's  course  be  in  the  main  strictly  followed; 
although  not  infrequently,  when  pursuit  had  continued 
sufficiently  long  to  satisfy  the  pursuer's  mind  as  to  the 
quarry's  intended  destination,  short  cuts  across  country 
might  safely  be  hazarded. 

When  the  scout's  task  had  to  do  only  with  the  reaching 
of  a  geographical  objective,  his  work  was  more  akin  to  that 
of  the  engineer.  The  scout  then  was  concerned  with  two 
propositions:  first,  how  surely  to  attain  the  point;  second, 
how  best  to  avoid  all  intermediate  obstructions.  In  this 
he  was  not  interested,  hke  the  scientific  explorer,  in  ac- 
tually mapping  the  details  of  the  intervening  country, 
though  the  scout  might  have  to  give  attention  to  them  in 
so  far  as  they  might  promise  to  be  factors  in  the  then  present 
expedition  or  in  some  future  one. 

For  the  successful  exercise  of  the  art  of  pursuit,  the  trailer 
first  concentrated  his  scrutiny  upon  the  face  of  the  country 
through  which  his  quest  was  to  lie,  in  order  that,  becoming 
thoroughly  famiUarized  with  the  normal  appearance  of  all 
the  details,  he  might  have  his  attention  instantly  arrested 
by  any  infraction  of  that  normaUty.  Once  intimately  ac- 
quainted with  the  usual  appearance  of  things,  the  trailer 
thereafter  could  confine  his  observation  exclusively  to 
watching  for  the  unusual.  The  unusual,  the  infractions 
which  the  quarry  had  imposed  on  usual  conditions,  wrote 
the  story  of  the  eluder's  journey  and  prophesied  his  destina- 
tion. 

The  simplest  situation  was  the  following  of  a  fugitive 
which,  until  overtaken,  kept  himself  in  clear  view;  but 
so  bald  a  ''sliding  the  groove"  deserves  no  consideration, 
for  it  involved  no  element  of  detective  work.  Not  unless 
the  pursuit  were  of  a  hidden  quarry  did  the  operation  rise 
to  the  dignity  of  trailing. 


TRAILING  319 

An  otherwise  invisible  fugitive  might  disclose  his  position 
by  unwittingly  permitting  simlight  to  reflect  from  some 
bright  object  worn  upon  himself  or  upon  his  horse.  Upon 
brilliant  days  such  flashing  would,  in  the  clear  air  of  the 
West,  be  visible  for  miles.  For  this  latter  reason  all  law- 
abiding  Westerners  in  either  Indian-beset  territory  or  the 
country  of  big-game  shooting,  and  everywhere  all  law-break- 
ing Westerners,  eschewed  anything  that  might  throw  off  re- 
flections. Bright  nickel  was  at  a  discount,  whether  it  were 
upon  rifle,  pistol,  spur  or  bit.  White  handkerchiefs  and 
shirts  were  not  held  in  high  esteem. 

The  flashing  from  a  reflecting  object  was  particularly 
noticeable  when  that  object  was  in  motion.  Because  of 
this  the  trailer,  the  instant  he  thought  himself  observed 
by  his  quarry,  stiffened  into  inmiobility,  to  remain  quies- 
cent so  long  as  he  deemed  himself  or  his  location  to  be  under 
observation. 

Many  a  tenderfoot,  riding  alone  and  solemnly  brandish- 
ing his  shiny  pistol  during  a  self-imposed  drill,  has  thereby 
sent  to  far-distant,  grinning  punchers  advertisement  of  his 
coming. 

The  route  of  the  man  or  animal  pursued  might  be  visually 
reported  by  impressions  left  underfoot  or  at  the  trail's  side, 
by  foreign  objects  dropped  in  the  way,  by  the  fugitive's 
routing  of  birds  and  animals  from  their  stations  and  send- 
ing them  scurrjdng  into  the  pursuer's  sight.  It  might  be 
audibly  reported  by  the  fugitive's  footfalls,  his  rolUng  stones, 
or  his  breaking  sticks,  and,  if  the  fugitive  were  a  man,  by 
also  his  discharging  weapons.  Finally,  it  might  be  reported 
to  the  nose  by  identifying  odor,  and  to  the  sense  of  touch 
by  the  temperature  of  dropped  objects. 

These  memoranda  of  travel  could  be  read;  and,  when 
accurately  perused,  they  disclosed  the  identity  of  the  quarry, 
his  course,  and,  save  in  the  instances  of  the  audible  messages, 
the  time  elapsed  since  he  had  made  any  given  ''sign,"  as 
each  tangible  memorandum  left  by  him  was  termed. 


320  THE  COWBOY 

The  impressions  left  underfoot  might  show  as  more  or 
less  clear  imprints  of  the  foot,  as  mere  scratches  upon  a 
rock,  a  frozen  surface,  or  a  sun-baked  soil,  as  breaks  in  sticks 
or  herbage,  or  as  displacements  of  natural  objects  from  their 
wonted  positions. 

Because  the  fugitive's  footprints  were  the  most  satis- 
factory evidence  of  his  identity,  the  first  function  of  the 
trailer  was  so  to  acquaint  himseK  with  the  impressions  of 
his  quarry's  feet  as  to  be  able  thereafter  to  distinguish  them 
from  all  other  tracks.  To  accompHsh  this,  he  might,  until 
he  came  upon  a  set  of  complete  imprints,  have  to  rely,  in 
the  case  of  each  foot,  upon  a  composite  construction  made 
up  of  a  heel's  impress  here,  a  toe's  print  there.  A  half  dozen 
fragmentary  impressions  might  be  all  an  expert  trailer  had 
seen  before  he  had  formed  an  accurate,  detailed  conception 
of  a  foot's  shape,  size,  and  characteristics. 

With  the  prints  once  clearly  pictured  in  the  mind  of  a 
competent  scout,  he,  despite  their  infrequent  appearance 
in  complete  form  upon  anything  but  moist  soil  or  damp 
snow,  would  follow  them  from  such  surfaces  across  the  sand, 
the  rocks,  the  ice,  through  myriads  of  other  and  temporarily 
conflicting  tracks,  confidently  recognizing  telltale  peculiari- 
ties which  were  from  time  to  time  disclosed,  on  this  print 
a  worn-over  heel,  in  that  impression  a  twisted  toe. 

If  the  trailer  had  not  before  his  start  been  advised  as  to 
the  physical  pecuHarities  of  his  quarry's  feet  or  their  shoe- 
ings,  he  quickly  learned  them  from  the  imprints.  The  size 
and  shape  of  each  foot,  as  also  lameness,  deviations  from 
normal  pointings  of  the  toe,  undue  throwing  of  weight  upon 
any  special  portion  of  a  foot,  length  of  stride,  projecting 
seams,  indented  breaks,  each  wrote  a  memorandum.  The 
form,  size,  and  character  of  sewn  seams,  of  a  repairing  patch, 
of  an  unmended  tear  or  hole  would,  for  the  human  moccasin 
or  boot,  leave  a  record  as  instructive  as  would  a  broken 
shoe  or  a  malformed  hoof  for  a  fleeing  horse. 


TRAILING  321 

Limping  not  only  drove  a  lame  leg's  foot  more  deeply 
into  the  ground  than  a  sound  leg  sent  its  foot,  but  also  was 
apt  to  cause  both  a  twisting  on  the  sole  and  a  variation 
from  the  normal  length  of  stride.  Drunkenness  and  physical 
exhaustion  each  were  recorded  by  prints  which  showed 
successive  staggerings  from  and  to  the  course;  as  also  undue 
indentings,  here  of  the  heel,  there  of  the  toe;  and  finally 
signal  inequaUty  in  length  of  stride. 

At  the  scene  of  an  Oregonian  ''hold  up,'*  the  footprints 
of  the  bandit  evidenced  a  patched  sole  and  a  lame  leg.  A 
puncher,  following  the  prints,  ascertained  promptly  that 
the  bandit  had  walked  two  hundred  yards  to  a  tethered 
horse,  had  mounted,  and  had  ridden  away.  The  puncher, 
by  chnging  to  the  horse's  trail,  arrived  at  a  ranch  tem- 
porarily emptied  of  its  inmates.  Earth  markings  showed 
that  the  bandit  had  dismounted  before  the  door.  The 
patched  sole  had  clearly  recorded  its  entering  the  building, 
but  had  made  no  record  of  its  leaving.  The  puncher's  study 
of  all  the  local  impressions  soon  offered  the  explanation. 
The  prints  made  by  an  unpatched  sole  under  a  limping  foot 
told  of  a  change  of  shoes,  led  to  the  corral,  and,  in  combina- 
tion with  the  hoof-marks  within  the  corral  and  leading  from 
its  gate,  advertised  that  the  bandit  had  saddled  a  fresh 
horse,  and  had  trotted  away  upon  it.  That  puncher  within 
two  hours  caught  that  bandit. 

Incidentally,  all  Indians  toed  in  and  wore  moccasins,  the 
sole  marks  of  the  latter  frequently  by  their  shapes  estab- 
lishing the  identity  of  the  wearer's  tribe.  Also  no  Indian 
shod  his  horse  with  metal;  or,  unlike  the  white  man,  let 
his  fire,  when  not  used  for  signalling,  emit  dark  smoke. 

Length  of  stride  was,  as  between  a  man's  two  feet,  apt 
to  be  unequal.  Usually  the  right  foot  took  the  longer  step, 
direction  being  maintained  by  twisting  on  the  longer-step- 
ping foot  as  the  other  was  in  the  air.  This  twisting  im- 
printed a  distinctive  swirl  upon  the  track. 


322  THE  COWBOY 

Some  men,  when  walking,  brought  down  their  feet  with 
even  pressure.  Others  stressed  upon  either  heel  or  toe. 
A  running  man  rarely  touched  to  the  ground  any  part  of 
his  foot  that  was  back  of  its  ball.  If  he  did  otherwise,  the 
heel  print  would  be  but  slightly  impressed.  A  man  could 
run  backward,  but  this  only  for  short  distances,  and  when 
he  both  was  upon  his  toes  and  also  was  taking  short  strides. 
When  he  was  walking  backward,  he  would,  after  the  first 
few  yards,  all  done  with  great  physical  effort,  throw  his 
weight  upon  his  heels,  and  also  drive  them  into  the  soil 
accordingly.  These  simple,  natural  characteristics  saved 
a  competent  trailer  from  being  long  deceived  by  that  hoary 
subterfuge  of  thieves,  walking  backward. 

A  pedestrian,  if  heavily  laden,  would  markedly  indent 
his  heels. 

A  Californian  bank  was  robbed  of  some  silver  bars.  A 
single  set  of  himian  footprints,  all  of  them  showing  deeply 
impressed  heels,  led  from  the  bank's  building  to  the  hoof 
marks  of  a  horse;  and  thence,  with  much  lessened  depth 
of  heel  impressions,  continued  to  a  second  and  dissimilar  set 
of  equine  hoof-marks.  The  two  sets  of  hoof-marks  forthwith 
diverged.  There  came  upon  the  scene  a  competent  trailer. 
He  reasoned  and,  as  it  soon  developed,  correctly  reasoned 
that  but  one  robber  had  dismounted,  had  entered  the  build- 
ing, and  had  removed  the  silver;  that  this  robber  had  car- 
ried the  loot  to  a  confederate  who  had  remained  in  the  sad- 
dle; that  the  dismounted  robber  then  had  mounted  his  own 
horse;  and  that,  to  confuse  pursuers,  the  two  men  had  fled 
in  opposite  directions.  The  trailer,  on  the  faith  of  altered 
depths  in  human  heel  prints,  guessed  accurately  as  to 
which  horse  carried  the  silver;  and  the  trailer  made  his 
capture. 

A  ridden  horse  clung  to  a  fixed  course.  A  riderless  horse 
would  wander  hither  and  thither. 

A  horse,  when  walking  or  trotting,  made  two  parallel 


TRAILING  323 

lines  of  hoof-marks,  one  with  his  two  right  feet,  the  other 
with  his  two  left  feet. 

In  each  of  these  lines  were  widely  and  regularly  spaced 
sets  of  imprints;  each  set  consisting  of  the  closely  adjacent 
impressions  of  the  front  and  hind  feet  belonging  on  which- 
ever side  of  the  horse  was  the  one  to  which  the  line  related. 
Each  set  showed,  for  the  normal  horse,  the  hind  foot's  im- 
pression slightly  in  advance  of  that  of  the  front  foot;  while 
a  lame  animal  was  apt  on  his  infirm  side  to  reverse  this  order 
of  precedence.  The  intervals  between  the  sets  of  normal 
prints  would  be  for  a  horse,  when  walking,  approximately 
five  feet,  and,  when  trotting,  approximately  eight  feet. 

The  walking  horses,  when  riderless,  made  with  all  four 
feet  such  indentations  as  showed  the  heels  and  toes  equally 
impressed.  But  the  walking  horse,  when  ridden,  acted  as 
did  any  trotting  horse  ridden  or  unridden,  and  tended  to 
accent  the  impressions  of  its  toes.  Trotting  hoofs  also 
scarfed  up  a  bit  the  ground  immediately  ahead  of  them. 

In  the  lope,  and  also  in  the  gallop  or  so-called  run  (a  horse 
does  not  run),  all  four  hoofs  tended  to  track  in  a  single  line. 

A  loping  horse,  if  leading  with  his  right  front  foot,  made 
his  hoof  impressions  in  the  following  order:  (1)  right  front, 
(2)  left  hind,  (3)  left  front,  (4)  right  hmd,  (5)  right  front 
again. 

The  length  of  the  intervals  between  the  several  impres- 
sions depended  on  the  individual  peculiarities  of  each  ani- 
mal; and  also,  in  the  case  of  each  animal,  varied  with  the 
levelness  or  hilliness  of  the  course,  and  the  character  of  the 
footing.  For  the  average,  normal  horse  on  level  ground 
with  good  surface,  the  intervals,  other  than  that  between 
the  marks  of  the  left  hind  and  the  left  front  foot,  would 
be  approximately  twenty-four  inches.  The  excepted  inter- 
val would  be  either  very  short  or  else  non-existent,  possibly 
one  inch  in  length,  or,  perhaps,  instead  of  this,  the  hind 
foot's  print  would  cut  into  the  front  foot's  mark. 


324  THE  COWBOY 

In  the  gallop  the  order  of  imprints  changed,  and,  for  a 
horse  leading  with  his  right  front  foot,  was  (1)  right  front, 
(2)  left  hind,  (3)  right  hind,  (4)  left  front,  (5)  right  front 
again. 

The  intervals  would  be  much  longer  than  in  the  case  of 
the  lope,  and  there  would  be  no  counterpart  of  the  loper's 
single,  inch-long  spacing  above  mentioned. 

In  both  the  lope  and  the  gallop,  if  the  animal  were  to 
lead  with  his  left  foot,  the  serial  orders  above  given  would 
be  correspondingly  transposable. 

In  all  these  higher  speeds,  added  to  little  mounds  before 
the  imprints  were  splays  of  earth  thrown  back  from  the 
prints;  both  the  depth  of  the  prints  and  also  the  lengths 
both  of  the  splays  and  of  the  intervals,  all  considered  in 
connection  with  the  character  of  the  soil,  accurately  an- 
nouncing the  rate  of  speed. 

In  1894  the  federal  government's  scout  in  the  Yellow- 
stone National  Park  came  upon  the  hoof-prints  of  a  poach- 
ing outfit.  After  following  the  trail  a  short  distance  the 
scout  suddenly  turned  to  the  army  officer  with  him  and 
said:  ^^No  use.  They've  seen  us  and  their  horses  are  faster 
than  ours."  The  scout  had  observed  the  prints  of  a  walk 
continue  into  the  prints  of  a  gallop,  and  had  recognized 
that  the  intervals  were  longer  than  the  horses  of  his  own 
detachment  could  make.  That  he  had  reasoned  accurately 
appeared  when,  a  day  or  so  later,  the  poachers  were  ar- 
rested, told  their  story,  and  confessed  their  own  horses' 
racing  quahty. 

Hoofed  animals  other  than  horses  left,  within  the  limits 
of  their  several  gaits,  tracks  open  to  an  analysis  like  that 
already  described. 

Observation  made  from  these  view-points  permitted 
accurate  diagnosis  between  the  hoof-print  of  an  antelope 
and  that  of  a  mountain-sheep.  Each  of  these  animals  had 
cloven  hoofs  of  the  same  shape  and  size,  the  two  sections 
of  each  hoof  making  collectively  an  impression  somewhat 


TRAILING  325 

in  the  form  of  a  triangle.  The  apex  of  this  triangle  was, 
in  the  case  of  the  antelope,  at  the  forward  end  of  the  im- 
print, and,  in  the  case  of  the  sheep,  at  the  imprint's  rear 
end.  A  trailer  would  discover  whether  the  track  were  that 
of  a  sheep  bound  north  or  of  an  antelope  travelling  south, 
the  moment  that  there  appeared  the  tracks  which  the  beast 
had  made  after  it  had  broken  from  a  walk. 

A  given  print  seemingly  might  have  been  made  by  a  steer, 
a  large  wapiti,  or  a  small  bison,  but  sooner  or  later  there 
would  appear  upon  the  trail  some  sign  that  clearly  estab- 
lished the  identity  of  the  animal. 

Sometimes  the  surface  trod  upon  was  rock  or  ice,  and 
thus  incapable  through  hardness  of  taking  a  complete  im- 
pression. Nevertheless  it  could,  from  an  iron  horseshoe,  a 
stone  caught  in  the  hoof,  or  a  nail  in  a  boot's  sole,  receive 
scratches  which,  from  their  freshness,  stood  clearly  forth 
to  an  observant  eye.  In  granitic  rock,  recently  scored  mica 
shone  like  a  galaxy  of  Httle  stars.  Ice-cuts  would  for  a  while 
display  scintillating  crystals. 

Freshly  broken  sticks  had  evidential  value  as  to  both 
the  fact  of  passage  and  the  identity  of  the  traveller.  Ex- 
cept through  occasional  iuadvertence  or  when  m  the  reck- 
lessness of  terror,  wild  animals  never  stepped  upon  avoidable 
sticks,  particularly  on  such  as  patently  would  break.  The 
Indian  adopted  this  habit  of  the  wild  animals,  and  over- 
stepped branches  and  twigs  lying  in  his  path.  It  remaiued 
for  the  white  man,  the  cattle  and  the  horse  to  tread  ruth- 
lessly upon  all  wood  within  the  way.  These  last  two  ani- 
mals, the  white  man's  only  rivals  in  stupidity,  outdid  him 
merely  in  that  they,  from  their  greater  weight,  broke  the 
wood  into  smaller  pieces  and  pushed  the  fragments  further 
into  the  ground. 

Two  broken  branches  overhanging  a  wide  flat  rock  of- 
fered to  trailers  the  first  proof  as  to  the  direction  taken  by 
an  Idaho  horse  thief  in  1888. 

Logs  dropped  across  the  trail  were  apt  to  receive  scratches 


326  THE  COWBOY 

from  the  overstepping  foot  of  a  white  man  or  of  a  large 
hoofed  animal;  and  also  were  wont,  through  this  same 
agency,  to  have  broken  from  themselves  bark  and  outstand- 
ing branches  or  stubs. 

Grass  or  other  herbage,  trodden  upon  by  man  or  a 
weighty  beast,  usually  was  so  bruised  as  for  some  time  to 
remain  at  least  partly  prone.  While  it  remained  depressed 
it,  if  long-stemmed,  definitely  told  the  direction  which  the 
traveller  had  taken.  A  man  always  kicked  knee-high  or 
taller  grass  away  from  him,  and  thus  the  depressed  plants' 
heads  lay  pointed  in  the  direction  in  which  the  man  had 
gone.  A  large  hoofed  animal,  by  reason  of  the  semicircular 
sweep  of  its  front  feet,  dragged  backward  the  tops  of  high 
grass.  WTierefore  these  tops  would  point  toward  the  direc- 
tion from  which  the  animal  had  come. 

That  sticks  or  stones  had  been  kicked  out  of  their  normal 
positions  in  the  trail  would  appear  from  the  unweathered, 
sharply  defined  contours  of  their  former  beds,  from  the  non- 
appearance as  yet  of  any  attempt  by  these  sticks  and  stones 
to  reseat  themselves  in  new  position,  and  from  the  unweath- 
ered soil  clinging  to  such  of  their  surfaces  as  had  fitted 
within  their  former  resting-places. 

Trees,  plants,  rocks  beside  the  trail  might,  on  their  sides, 
record  breaks  or  scratches  of  import  correlative  with  these 
imderfoot  markings. 

Foreign  objects  in  the  trail  told  their  own  story.  They 
would  include  a  bit  of  leather,  a  stone  carried  in  a  hoof  and 
later  dropped,  a  leaf  or  branch  or  flower  that  had  adhered 
awhile  to  a  boot,  a  spur,  or  a  saddle  strap  and  then  fallen 
off,  a  piece  of  charcoal  that  had  for  some  time  clung  to  cloth- 
ing and  then  been  jarred  away  from  its  hold,  sand  that,  col- 
lected upon  the  foot  at  a  stream's  crossing  and  thereafter 
drying  had  been  gradually  discarded,  any  leakings  from  the 
pocket  of  a  coat  or  saddle  or  from  a  sack,  anything  that 
nature  herself  did  not  put  upon  the  trail. 


TRAILING  327 

James  Bridger  from  his  horse's  back  saw  an  eagle  feather 
upon  the  rocks.  Realizing  that  such  a  feather  always 
merited  inspection,  he  stopped,  dismounted,  and  found 
that  attached  to  the  butt  of  the  feather's  quill  was  a  strand 
of  buckskin.  He  needed  no  warning  additional  to  that 
given  by  this  dropping  from  a  war-bonnet.  One  minute 
later  and  he  had  picked  up  the  trail  of  a  marauding  Indian 
party. 

James  Dewing,  travelling  through  a  spruce  forest  in 
Wyoming,  came  upon  a  pathway  among  the  trees.  In  the 
path  lay  a  fresh  leaf  of  an  aspen-tree,  a  tree  strange  to  that 
forest.  Dewing  dropped,  crawled  to  one  side,  and  found 
ambushed  behind  a  log  an  Indian,  to  whose  clothing  was 
stuck  an  aspen  twig  with  three  leaves  still  adhering,  and 
the  attached  stem  of  the  one  that  had  gone. 

In  the  present  Yellowstone  National  Park  was  a  cliff  of 
obsidian  from  which  the  local  Indians,  the  Crows,  quarried 
their  arrow-heads.  These  heads  were  highly  prized  by  the 
members  of  other  tribes;  and,  in  times  of  intertribal  peace, 
were  bartered  in  more  or  less  sparing  quantities  to  these 
outside  Indians.  There  had  been  rumor  of  impending  up- 
rising among  the  Red  Skins.  James  Bridger,  wandering 
across  country  and  traversing  a  wide  ledge  of  exposed  rock, 
strayed  onto  a  hne  of  obsidian  arrow-points  that,  leaking 
through  a  hole  in  some  carelessly  carried  pouch,  had  fallen 
onto  the  bare  stone.  There  patently  were  too  many  of 
these  heads  for  them  to  have  come  from  any  white  man's 
curio  sack,  probably  too  many  for  the  Crows  to  have  spared 
in  barter;  and  assuredly  no  peaceful  savage  would  care- 
lessly have  portered  so  valuable  belongings.  Bridger 
reasoned  that  the  Crow  Tribe  was  very  hkely  on  the  war- 
path. He  soon  found  that  his  surmise  was  correct;  for  he, 
scouting  around  the  ledge's  rim,  came  in  a  few  moments 
upon  a  discarded  Crow  moccasin  and  the  fresh  tracks  of 
numerous  ponies,  but  there  was  not  a  mark  of  any  dragging 


328  THE  COWBOY 

lodge  pole.  When  the  savage  went  forth  to  battle,  he  left 
his  tents  at  home. 

Kit  Carson  in  Colorado  recognized,  as  coming  from  a 
certain  sand-bar,  grains  of  sand  that,  when  drying,  had 
gradually  fallen  from  the  hoofs  of  a  horse  which,  having 
crossed  that  sand-bar,  had  been  ridden  onto  ice.  These 
grains  of  sand,  many  inches  apart,  guided  the  patient  trailer 
two  miles  to  where  clear  hoof-prints  again  appeared  upon 
soft  ground. 

If  a  thieving  Shoshone  Indian  had  not  included  in  his 
plunder  a  slowly  leaking  bag  of  copper  rivets,  he  would 
have  left  no  trail  during  the  half  mile  that  he  walked  in  the 
swiftly  flowing,  clear  waters  of  Wyoming's  Pilgrim  Creek. 

The  manure  dropped  by  animals,  and  the  clots  of  blood 
shed  by  a  wounded  quarry  often  offered  valuable  proof. 
The  amateur  trailer  was  apt  to  mistake  for  blood-stains 
the  crimson  markings  imposed  by  frost  on  various  kinds 
of  leaves. 

Birds  and  loose  animals,  disturbed  by  the  fugitive  and 
fleeing  from  him,  not  only  revealed  the  fact  of  his  motion, 
but  also  advertised  its  course.  Crows  were  the  most  useful 
of  these  wild  allies.  They  would  fly  promptly  and  to  a  dis- 
tance upon  a  white  man's  approach,  would  rise  as  promptly 
upon  Indians'  coming;  but  were  apt  to  tag  behind  the  Red 
Skins'  party,  because  the  latter's  distinctive  odor  suggested 
the  certainty  of  future  meals  of  discarded  meat. 

Crows,  suddenly  arriving  from  nowhere  in  particular, 
installing  themselves  in  the  tops  of  a  group  of  trees,  re- 
maining thus  aloft  and  constantly  jabbering,  meant  not 
that  they  had  convened  for  conversational  purpose,  but 
that  an  Indian  camp  was  on  the  ground  below  the  birds. 
Mere  carrion  would  have  called  the  birds  to  the  ground, 
and  eating  would  have  stopped  their  caws. 

Canada  jays  also  would  advertise  the  location  of  a  camp. 

A  trailer,  perched  upon  a  hill  and  looking  down  upon  a 


TRAILING  329 

forest,  could  accurately  chart  the  progress  of  an  unseen 
traveller  beneath  the  trees;  and  do  so  solely  from  the  dart- 
ings  of  the  birds  and  the  hurried  exits  of  the  four-footed 
beasts. 

Dave  Rhodes  of  Montana,  looking  down  into  a  wooded 
valley  north  of  Jackson's  Hole,  Wyoming,  remarked:  '^Here 
comes  an  outfit,"  He  had  noticed  that,  along  an  approxi- 
mately straight  line,  not  only  successive  birds  had  risen 
from  the  treetops  but  also  some  wapiti  were  hurrying  from 
the  woods.    Presently  four  men  rode  into  view. 

Jim  Scott,  Ijdng  in  a  Kansan  coulee  with  prairie-dogs  all 
about  him,  saw  the  httle  animals  one  by  one  falling  like 
tenpins  and  diving  into  their  holes.  He  took  the  hint  and 
still  more  fully  hid  himself.  Twenty  warriors  presently 
came  over  the  hilltop. 

Every  mounted  trailer  kept  close  watch  upon  the  horse 
beneath  him.  The  Range  pony  was  alert  to  all  movements, 
sounds,  and  odors;  and,  by  his  suddenly  cocked  ears,  his 
quickly  erected  head,  his  sniffing,  would  direct  his  rider's 
notice  to  the  quarry,  or  to  some  factor  indicating  its  where- 
abouts. Sometimes  the  little  brute's  nose  had  to  be  held 
in  order  to  stifle  the  whinny  that  was  apt  to  hail  the  quarry's 
mount. 

To  avoid  giving  information  to  the  quarry,  the  trailer 
often  had  to  shun  positions  directly  to  the  quarry's  wind- 
ward, lest  scent  drift  on  the  breeze  to  a  sensitive  nose. 

Hearing  more  rarely  was  important,  and  usually  only 
when  within  fairly  close  distance  from  the  fugitive;  though 
the  audible  radius  greatly  could  be  increased  by  the  scout's 
putting  his  ear  to  the  ground.  The  steps  of  a  moving  horse, 
particularly  when  the  animal  was  traversing  hard  ground 
and  was  travelling  rapidly,  could  in  this  way  be  distin- 
guished from  quite  far  away,  and  distinguished  so  clearly 
as  to  disclose  the  identity  of  the  gait  the  beast  was  using, 
I.  e.y  whether  a  trot,  a  lope,  or  a  gallop. 


330  THE  COWBOY 

At  close  range  the  kind  of  noise  coming  from  breaking 
sticks  told  as  to  who  was  fracturing  them.  Horses,  cattle, 
and  white  men,  with  their  ruthless  motion,  produced  sharply 
sounding  cracks.  Indians  and  all  wild  animals,  however 
large  the  latter  were,  had  a  more  stealthy  step,  and  pro- 
duced a  slower,  more  crunching,  and  less  insistent  breaking 
noise. 

Wet  sticks  and  dry  ones  had,  as  compared  with  each 
other,  quite  dissimilar  breaking  tones. 

Canvas  or  corduroy,  when  rubbed  upon  itself,  upon  rocks 
or  upon  tree  branches,  emitted  a  telltale  sound.  For  this 
reason  Indian  scouts  refused  to  include  these  materials  in 
their  clothing. 

Sounds,  particularly  those  from  firearms,  advertised  to 
a  trained  ear  the  approximate  position  of  the  quarry;  for 
the  quality  of  the  noise  would  tell  the  identity  of  its  creator, 
and  the  quantity  of  the  noise  would  evidence  the  distance 
it  had  travelled.  In  a  matter  of  this  sort  the  wind's  direc- 
tion and  force  were  often  factors  for  consideration,  since 
the  wind  might  be  either  an  aid  or  a  hindrance  to  the  transit 
of  sound. 

With  black  powder  (the  only  powder  used  till  the  decade 
of  the  nineties),  no  two  rifles,  even  though  of  the  same  make 
and  cahber,  produced,  when  fired,  sounds  identical  in  char- 
acter. Some  occult  difference  in  their  steel  differentiated 
their  noises.  And  between  weapons  of  unlike  calibers,  the 
difference  in  sound  was  very  evident.  If  the  trailer  were 
familiar  with  the  report  of  his  quarry's  weapon,  a  single 
shot  from  the  latter  would  often  indicate  the  fugitive's  iden- 
tity. 

The  trailer's  sense  of  smell  revealed  to  him  the  presence 
of  neighboring  Indians,  wapiti,  or  fires,  and  also  frequently 
permitted  him  to  identify  the  ownership  of  objects  dropped 
on  the  trail.  Buckskin  of  Indian  tan  might,  through  long 
usage  or  rough  treatment,  change  its  appearance,  but  it 


TRAILING  331 

never  could  rid  itself  of  its  characteristic  odor.  An  exces- 
sive user  of  tobacco  might  have  all  his  belongings  so  per- 
meated with  the  weed's  smeU  that  his  handkerchief  or  piece 
of  cloth  lying  in  the  way  would  speak  more  definitely  to 
the  nose  of  the  scout  than  to  the  latter's  eye. 

John  Yancey,  prowling  through  the  Wyoming  woods 
when  the  Indians  were  ^^out/'  saw  a  tiny  bit  of  leather  ad- 
hering to  a  tree.  One  look  and  one  smell  told  that  it  was  of 
Indian  tan.  No  footprint  appeared  nearby,  but  inspection 
showed  freshly  broken  bark  above  the  bit  of  leather.  What 
had  happened  was  that  an  Indian,  using  treetops  for  a  road, 
had  come  part  way  down  to  ground,  but,  on  seeing  Yancey, 
had  climbed  again. 

The  trailer's  sense  of  touch  had  useful  play  in  but  two 
fields.  Through  that  sense,  there  could,  for  the  purpose 
of  estimating  age,  be  gauged  the  temperature  of  the  manure 
which  the  fugitive  animal  had  dropped.  It  also  allowed  one 
to  ascertain,  by  feel  at  night,  what  one,  in  daytime,  learned 
through  the  eyes,  the  trend  of  direction  of  the  principal 
branches  of  the  trees.  These  branches  indicated  the  course 
of  the  prevailing  winds,  and  thus  a  definite  compass  point. 
This  latter  phase  had  to  do  primarily  with  the  exploratory 
function  of  scouting. 

The  discussion  thus  far  has  had  to  do  only  with  ascer- 
taining the  identity  of  the  trail  of  the  quarry,  and  discover- 
ing the  fact  and  direction  of  passage. 

Ascertainment  of  the  fugitive's  distance  ahead  of  the 
pursuer  was  a  vital  factor;  for  it  not  only  determined 
whether  the  speed  of  the  chase  should  be  accelerated,  but 
also  often  established  whether  correct  diagnosis  as  to  iden- 
tity had  been  made.  A  footprint  which  had  been  assmned 
to  have  been  that  of  a  murderer  of  yesterday  was  suddenly 
proven  to  be  three  days  old.  Wherefore  it  was  either  not 
the  trail  of  the  quarry,  or  at  least  not  his  current  trail. 

Old  markings  were  termed  ^'old  sign,"  and  made  a  ''cold 


332  THE  COWBOY 

trair';  while  recent  ones  were  called  ''fresh  sign,"  and 
created  a  ''hot"  or  "fresh"  trail.  Clearly  visible  sign  made 
a  "plain  trail,"  indistinct  sign  a  "blind"  one.  If  the 
quarry's  trail  had  been  trodden  upon  by  an  animal  or  per- 
son, it  was  said  to  have  been  "fouled." 

From  the  moment  that  a  record  was  made,  nature  began 
to  obliterate  it.  Its  edges  and  projections  were  attacked 
by  the  wind,  which  carried  against  them  sand,  small  sticks 
and  stones  or  particles  of  ice;  first  rounded  and  later 
levelled  them,  and  set  about  rolling  debris  into  the  Uttle 
hollows;  while  possibly  rain  beat  down  protuberances, 
and  washed  flotsam  into  depressions. 

The  dust  emanating  from  the  scratching  of  a  rock  or  of 
sun-baked  soil  was  gradually  dissipated.  As  soon  as  a  branch 
broke,  the  clearly  colored  fibres  at  the  point  of  fracture 
began  to  cloud  from  within  and  to  collect  dirt  from  with- 
out; the  adjacent  bark,  if  vital,  began  to  parch;  the  leaves 
beyond  the  fracture  commenced  to  wither;  and,  in  some 
varieties  of  trees,  sap  gathered  at  the  break. 

From  the  moment  that  a  plant  was  badly  injured  by 
being  trod  upon,  there  promptly  set  in  around  the  wound 
rapid  changes  in  coloration  and  in  texture. 

Blood  clots  tended  to  dry  quickly,  and  to  change  their 
showy  redness  into  inconspicuous  black. 

Temperature,  the  wetness  or  aridity  of  the  ground,  the 
humidity  or  dryness  of  the  air,  the  velocity  of  the  wind,  the 
quantity  and  rate  of  change  in  the  coloration  and  moist- 
ness  of  soil  freshly  exposed  to  weathering,  the  extent  of  the 
soil's  normal  willingness  to  cUng  together,  the  characteris- 
tics of  wounded  vegetation  all  came  under  the  trailer's  con- 
sideration; and  usually  he  was  able,  from  the  appearance 
of  "sign,"  closely  to  estimate  its  age.  This  conclusion  as 
to  age  was  reached  through  intelligent  calculation  as  to 
the  quantity  of  obliterative  work  that  nature  had  done 
to  the  "sign"  since  its  creation. 


TRAILING  333 

The  quantity  of  melting  or  of  freezing  in  and  about  a 
track  that  was  impressed  in  snow  or  scratched  upon  ice 
told  its  story  as  to  lapse  of  time.  During  frigid  weather, 
drops  of  water  oozing  from  a  track  offered  clear  evidence  of 
the  latter's  freshness.  Such  drops  would  appear  at  a  ford 
or  drinking  spot. 

Upon  a  freezing  day  Tazewell  Woody  in  Montana,  break- 
ing out  from  brush  at  a  ford,  saw  upon  the  opposite  bank  a 
clearly  defined  imprint  of  a  Sioux  moccasin.  Three  drops 
of  water  were  rolling  down  from  the  print^s  toe.  Woody 
ducked,  and  a  bullet  went  over  his  head. 

Even  upon  dry  soil,  experts  could  reach  close  approxi- 
mation as  to  age.  It  was  only  in  windless,  arid  valleys  that 
tracks  were  baffling  to  such  men. 

None  of  the  foregoing  is  intended  to  suggest  that  the 
trailer  made  pretension  to  any  knowledge  of  chemistry  or 
botany.  He  merely  kept  his  eyes  and  ears  open,  was  in- 
tensely observant,  and  ever  used  common  sense  in  making 
inductions  from  the  very  commonplace,  very  natural,  and 
quite  openly  displayed  matters  that  he  observed. 

There  were  other  simple  effects  of  nature^s  processes 
that  gave  definite  information  as  to  age. 

Grass  growing  upon  dry  soil,  and  trodden-down  but  not 
severely  bruised,  would  quickly  rise  to  erect  position  when 
later  wet  by  rain  or  dew.  Grass  growing  in  moist  soil,  and 
likewise  stepped  upon  and  fairly  uninjured,  would  also 
promptly  straighten  and  become  vertical.  But,  in  an  arid 
country  with  a  burning  sun,  herbage,  flattened  after  the 
heat  of  the  day  had  commenced,  would  lie  for  hours  pros- 
trate, much  of  it  sullenly  to  wait  for  the  coming  of  the  next 
night's  dew. 

Dew,  and  still  more  markedly  rain,  by  their  action  on 
the  ground's  surface,  aided  an  observer  in  his  gauging  the 
age  of  tracks.  The  falling  moisture  wiped  out  the  sharp- 
ness of  all  prior  markings,  and  put  upon  the  surface  of  the 


334  THE  COWBOY 


.tionsP 


I 


bare  soil  a  smooth  finish  which  recorded  all  indentatio: 
Any  cut  upon  that  finish  patently  had  been  made  after 
the  finish  had  been  created. 

The  edges  of  charcoal  rounded  under  the  slightest  stre 
from  wind  or  water,  and  placed  almost  a  clock  stamp  upon 
the  date  of  an  extinguished  fire.  Still  smouldering  wood 
or  steaming  ground  of  course  showed  a  more  recently  aban- 
doned camp. 

Frequently  a  footprint  of  the  quarry  merged  with  an  im- 
print made  by  some  other  person  or  animal.  If  the  trailer 
knew,  as  he  often  had  reason  to  do,  the  exact  age  of  the 
foreign  track,  his  ascertainment  as  to  which  print  was  atop 
the  other  would  give  information  of  practical  value. 

The  final  matter  to  be  taken  into  consideration  during 
the  chase  was  the  psychology  of  the  quarry.  Persons  or 
animals  under  pursuit  had  resorted  since  time  inamemorial 
rite  certain  subterfuges  for  escape.  These  included  entering 
running  streams  or  other  bodies  of  water,  travelling  for  a 
distance  in  the  water,  and  then  returning  to  the  land.  These 
also  included,  for  men,  the  ascent  of  trees,  and  the  travel 
for  a  time  through  the  treetops  before  returning  to  the 
ground  and  resuming  ordinary  method  of  locomotion. 
These  also  included,  for  men,  placing  their  successive  steps 
atop  the  bulges  on  the  bases  of  the  trunks  of  growing  trees, 
and,  by  handholds  upon  higher  portions  of  these  same  trees, 
swinging  from  tree  to  tree. 

So  much  for  the  physical  acts. 

The  mental  element  was  the  plan  which  nature  since 
pursuit  began  had  seemingly  put  in  men  and  beasts  pur- 
sued. 

In  approximately  nine  cases  out  of  ten  a  human  quarry 
would  not  follow  a  straight  course  for  any  considerable 
distance,  but  would  subterfuge  as  follows: 

In  approximately  nine  cases  out  of  ten  he,  if  merely  seek- 
ing safety  and  not  hastening  to  a  definite  goal,  would  leave 


TRAILING  335 

a  stream  upon  the  same  side  as  the  one  on  which  he  had 
entered.  Whether  he  turned  down-stream  or  up  it  would 
depend  upon  the  position  of  his  pursuers  or  the  physical 
appearance  of  the  stream.  If  the  pursuers  were  to  one  side 
of  the  quarry,  the  latter  almost  surely  would,  in  the  stream, 
proceed  in  the  direction  away  from  the  side  on  which  the 
pursuers  were;  but,  if  the  pursuers  were  approximately  to 
the  quarry's  rear,  the  latter,  with  almost  equal  certainty, 
would  start  in  whichever  direction  a  hurried  glance  at  the 
stream's  bottom  suggested  would  give  the  speedier  footing. 

In  approximately  nine  cases  out  of  ten  a  man  taking  to 
the  treetops  would  turn  back  upon  the  course  which  he  had 
been  following  on  the  ground,  and,  unless  hurrying  to  some 
definite  spot,  would  ultimately  leave  the  forest  upon  the 
same  side  as  that  at  which  he  had  entered  it. 

In  approximately  nine  cases  out  of  ten  a  man  swinging 
from  tree  to  tree  would  circle  his  way  from  his  earher  course, 
and,  on  reaching  the  ground,  would  have  reversed  his  initial 
direction. 

The  bear  acted  much  as  did  the  man.  Dumb  brutes 
other  than  the  bear  "doubled  back"  at  streams  only  when 
the  latter  were  of  some  size.  Small  watercourses  seemingly 
did  not  strike  them,  as  they  did  the  bear  and  a  human 
quarry,  as  being  sufiicient  in  size  for  manoeuvres  wherewith 
to  deceive  a  pursuer. 

The  innate  desire  to  deceive  by  doubling  back  was  im- 
planted by  nature  before  the  dawn  of  history;  and  still 
finds  expression  not  only  under  the  semiheroic  conditions 
above  described,  but  also  among  all  children  as  they  play 
games  of  pursuit.  Watch  a  boy  at  his  play  and  you  can 
see  what  a  murderer  would  do  if  chased. 

One  morning  in  the  early  nineties  John  H.  Dewing,  who 
would  have  been  a  very  able  Indian  scout  had  he  been  an 
adult  in  the  war-path  days,  was  standing  with  Tazewell 
Woody  in  a  hunter's  camp  near  the  southern  end  of  Jack- 


336  THE  COWBOY 

son  Lake  in  Wyoming.    There  came  to  them  a  rider 
Sargent's  Ranch  with  news  that,  a  Httle  way  to  the  north 
ward  during  the  previous  night,  one  man  had  killed  anothe 
and  that  the  killer  was  ^'wanted."    The  rider  reported  that,^ 
although  the  killer  was  horseless  and  probably  the  only_ 
pedestrian  in  the  country,  the  rider  did  not  know  the  cha: 
acteristics  of  the  killer's  feet. 

Woody  and  Dewing  walked  across  the  valley,  and,  withi 
five  minutes,  had  picked  up  a  pedestrian's  trail  and  ascer- 
tained that  it  was  atop  the  tracks  which  horses  of  the  hunt- 
ing-camp's saddle  band  had  made  the  preceding  evening. 

As  Woody  and  Dewing  followed  this  track.  Dewing  sud- 
denly turned  to  Woody  and  said:  ''Mr.  Woody,  here's  our 
man.  First  he  saw  our  camp  and  circled  it,  and  right  here 
he  is  trying  to  make  up  his  mind  whether  to  double  back 
or  not." 

What  Dewing  saw  were  human  footprints  which,  at  the 
beginning  of  a  vista  toward  the  camp,  evidenced  a  sudden 
slackening  of  speed,  a  slight  wandering  about,  and  then  a 
plunging  rapidly  upon  a  circular  course  centred  upon  the 
camp,  and  next  a  variation  in  length  of  stride  and  a  twist- 
ing of  the  feet.  Dewing  guessed  that  this  last  phase  meant 
that  the  killer  had  become  dissatisfied  with  his  direction, 
and  had  been  looking  to  right  and  left  to  determine  whether 
or  not  to  leave  the  trail,  and  if  so  which  way  to  turn. 

Dewing  was  correct  in  his  guess,  for,  less  than  one  hun- 
dred yards  farther  along  the  trail,  the  man  had  gone  off  at 
a  right  angle  and  had  headed  directly  for  Jackson  Lake. 
Obtaining  the  only  boat  upon  that  lake,  he  had  rowed  to 
its  northern  end  and  the  foot  of  Mt.  Moran,  there  left  the 
boat,  climbed  across  the  shoulder  of  that  mountain, 
struggled  through  the  heart  of  the  Teton  Range,  and  so 
made  his  way  to  the  railway  in  Idaho.  Incidentally,  the 
hurrying  fugitive  had,  upon  his  journey,  no  food  save  a 
hawk  which  he  shot  with  his  victim's  rifle  and  ate  raw. 


TRAILING  337 

Through  John  Dewing's  reasoning  guess  Tazewell 
Woody  almost  overtook  that  man;  and,  if  he  had  been 
caught,  Trampas  of  Mr.  Owen  Wister^s  "The  Virginian,'' 
would  not  have  had  a  real,  flesh-and-blood  murderer  precede 
him  over  the  very  mountain  route  along  which  Mr.  Wister, 
in  his  delightful  book,  later  sent  Trampas. 

Trailers,  following  a  quarry  to  the  water's  edge,  would 
first  scan  the  far  bank  for  signs  of  egress;  and,  if  seeing 
none,  would  look  then  at  the  stream's  bottom  for  disturbed 
stones,  bruised  moss,  broken  sticks  and  whirls  of  discolored 
water,  in  order  promptly  to  learn  whether  or  not  the  water 
had  been  entered  at  all. 

Trailers,  losing  footprints  in  the  forest,  would  first  scan 
adjacent  trees  for  telling  abrasions  by  a  climbing  fugitive. 
With  or  without  those  identifying  signs,  the  psychological 
element  had  to  be  kept  in  mind  until  the  normal  trail  should 
again  appear  upon  recording  land. 

The  trailer  in  his  exploratory  work  was,  through  his  previ- 
ous close  watchings  of  natural  conditions,  able  to  look  down 
from  the  summit  of  any  mountain  he  might  have  climbed, 
and  accurately  to  diagnose  the  footing  in  all  the  valleys 
within  sight.  Accustomed  to  keep  distances  in  mind  and 
to  realize  their  importance,  he  weighed  the  country's  topog- 
raphy with  a  view  to  making  no  imnecessary  steps.  He 
would  take  short  cuts  along  the  tops  of  hills  rather  than 
undertake,  as  would  many  an  amateur,  longer  journeys 
about  the  latters'  bases. 

Whenever  he  was  on  a  hilltop,  he  studied  the  topography 
of  the  land  below.  He  always  had  in  mind  sense  of  direc- 
tion. In  daytime  the  bearing  of  the  sun,  and  at  night  that 
of  the  moon  was  never  forgotten.  Once  "catching"  the 
North  Star,  a  brilhant  planet,  or  a  constellation;  he  marked 
the  north,  and  thereafter  the  sky  could  cloud  over  for  hours 
without  causing  him  anxiety. 

He  knew  the  compass  direction  of  the  prevailing  wind. 


338  THE  COWBOY 

Although,  in  certain  sections  of  North  America,  moss  upon 
tree-trunks  grew  most  thickly  upon  the  latter's  northern 
sides,  such  was  not  the  general  rule;  but,  everywhere  that 
the  winds  had  a  prevailing  direction,  the  winds  clearly  re- 
corded their  own  course.  All  foliage  adapted  itself  to  the 
situation,  and  extended  its  longer  branches  to  leeward. 
Striations  upon  the  snow  or  upon  the  ground  mosses  came 
from  these  same  winds,  and  gave  like  evidence  as  to  direc- 
tion. 

Pierre  Duval,  for  six  days,  journeyed  in  a  dense  Far 
Northern  fog  across  a  country  he  never  previously  had  seen, 
and  came  out  upon  the  Arctic  beach  within  two  miles  of 
where  he  had  wished.  He  had  had  no  guide  other  than  both 
the  wind  striations  upon  the  moss  and  the  leeward  leanings 
of  the  dwarfed  herbage. 

Trailers,  even  the  best  of  them,  were  not  infallible.  A 
quarry  at  times  would  perform  an  act  so  unprecedented  as 
completely  to  delude  his  pursuer. 

In  this  sort  of  ingenuity,  there  ranked,  among  all  crea- 
tures north  of  the  Mexican  border,  first,  the  Apache  In- 
dian, next,  the  Sioux  Indian,  the  wolverine,  the  lobo  wolf, 
and  the  coyote,  and,  next,  a  heterogeneous  mixture  made 
up  of  all  other  Indians,  of  the  grizzly  bear,  and  the  more 
cunning  white  men. 

Frank  P.  Fremont,  late  major  U.  S.  A.,  relates  the  fol- 
lowing anecdote. 

Mounted  Apache  Indians  having  raided  some  Arizonan 
ranches,  Fremont,  then  a  lieutenant,  started  with  a  de- 
tachment of  troops  in  pursuit;  and,  picking  up  the  Indians' 
trail,  followed  it  across  a  desert  and  into  a  forest.  The  trail, 
once  amid  the  trees,  showed  that,  every  half-mile  or  so, 
the  hoof-marks  of  three,  four,  or  five  of  the  Indians'  ponies 
led  off  sharply  to  right  or  left.  This  sloughing,  according 
to  all  previous  experience  of  the  army  with  marauding  ^^hos- 
tiles,"  declared  that  the  Apaches  had  definitely  ended  their 


TRAILING  339 

foray,  and  were  harmlessly  dispersing  for  the  sole  purpose 
of  quietly  sneaking  back  to  their  reservation.  Accordingly, 
the  troops  clung  to  the  main  trail  until  all  of  it  had  flowed 
away  through  these  tiny,  lateral  leakages,  and  then  the 
soldiers  about  faced,  "back-tracked"  through  the  forest 
and  out  into  the  desert.  When  they  had  marched  several 
miles  into  the  desert,  they  drew  in  all  their  outriders  ex- 
cept a  rear-guard;  and,  over  flat  treeless  sands  and  under 
a  withering  sun,  confidently  jogged  along,  heads  down, 
half  asleep,  bound  for  the  fort. 

The  unforeseen  element  was  that  the  Indians  would  vio- 
late a  precedent  of  many  years. 

While  the  soldiers  were  far  within  the  woods,  unexpected 
things  happened  on  the  desert.  The  savages  who  had  rid- 
den off  on  those  little  sidings  had  promptly  headed  for  pre- 
arranged concentration  spots,  one  on  each  side  of  the  main 
trail.  Thus,  without  ''fouling"  this  trail,  there  soon  had 
been  assembled  two  bands,  each  of  some  size.  These  bands 
then  had  moved  out  on  foot  into  the  desert  by  routes  parallel 
with  the  trail,  though  at  some  distance  from  it;  and,  at  an 
agreed  time,  had  turned  and  marched  toward  each  other, 
eventually  to  meet  and  to  form  across  the  trail  a  line,  which 
bore  to  the  trail  the  same  relation  as  does  the  crossing  of  a 
capital  letter  T  to  the  latter's  stem.  Next,  except  for  a  few 
of  the  Indians,  each  of  the  latter  had  dug  directly  in  front 
of  himseK  a  shallow  grave;  and  had  crawled  into  it,  with 
back  up,  and  face  and  gun  pointing  in  the  direction  from 
which  the  returning  troops  would  come.  Then  the  few 
excepted  Indians  had  filled  in  the  earth  above  the  ambush- 
ing warriors,  leaving  however  holes  for  breathing  and  sight- 
ing; had  smoothed  the  ground's  surface;  and  had  fled. 

The  sleepy  troops  were  jogging  along.  Suddenly,  but  a 
hundred  feet  ahead  of  them,  painted,  naked,  whooping 
bodies,  like  devils  on  the  Judgment  Day,  rose  out  of  the 
ground  and  fired  a  volley.     The  soldiers  did  not  break. 


340 


THE  COWBOY 


They  put  the  Indians  back  into  the  graves  for  a  permanent 
stay. 

Trailers  may  not  have  been  infallible;  but  some  of  them 
were  nearly  so,  and  most  of  them  were  invaluable  in  their 
services. 


CHAPTER  XVII 
LATER  PHASES  OF  WESTERN  MIGRATION 

ORDER  OF  WESTERN  MIGRATIONS — EFFECTS  PRODUCED  BY  MINERS  AND 
OTHERS — RANCHMEN  PRINCIPAL  CREATORS  OF  SPIRIT  OF  WEST — THAT 
SPIRIT — IMPRESS  LEFT  BY  RANCHMEN 

History  discloses  that  an  affirmative  public  conscious- 
ness, an  affirmative  national  spirit,  occurs  only  among  such 
people  as  are  mutually  engaged  in  active  business  affairs 
of  however  diverse  sorts,  and  that,  to  exist,  it  must  be 
founded  on  a  lasting  and  overwhelming  popular  support  of 
such  principles  as,  deeper  than  mere  matters  of  party 
politics,  are  socially  and  governmentally  fundamental. 

Before  the  gold  excitement  of  1848  but  few  whites  lived 
beyond  the  far  edge  of  the  narrow  strip  which  skirted  the 
western  bank  of  the  Mississippi  River.  These  few  whites 
consisted  of  the  scattered  hunters,  trappers,  and  Indian 
traders  who,  with  blithesome  contempt  for  distance,  were 
wandering  about  the  entire  territory  between  that  river 
and  the  Sierra  Nevadas;  consisted  also  of  the  scanty  popu- 
lations of  Cahfornia's  and  New  Mexico^s  Spanish  settle- 
ments, of  an  isolated  group  of  ranchmen  in  southeastern 
Texas,  of  a  pitifully  small  and  astonishingly  brave  commu- 
nity in  western  Oregon,  of  the  Mormon  colony  in  Utah,  and 
finally  of  a  handful  of  expatriates  who,  quitting  ships  whal- 
ing or  hide-droughing  upon  the  Calif ornian  coast,  had  settled 
on  its  shore. 

These  few  whites  were  too  few  in  number,  and,  save  for 
the  people  of  Oregon  and  of  the  Spanish  settlements,  and 
for  the  Mormons  in  Utah,  too  widely  dispersed,  too  differ- 
ing in  interests,  and  too  individualistic  to  form  even  a  local 
pubhc  consciousness;   although  the  hunters,  trappers,  and 

341 


342  THE  COWBOY 

traders  passed  down  traditions  which  made  an  impress 
upon  the  consciousness  of  the  entire  West  when  that  con- 
sciousness appeared. 

The  Oregonians  and  all  their  accretions  of  later  years 
were  merely  a  transplanted  slice  of  New  England,  and,  to 
this  day  in  the  year  1922,  the  peoples  of  coastal  Oregon  and 
of  New  England  have  been  identical  in  thought,  ideals,  and 
action.  The  Mormons  and  the  peoples  of  the  various  Span- 
ish settlements  each  formed  an  isolated  civiUzation,  and 
were  wholly  self-contained. 

The  Oregonians,  the  Mormons,  and  the  peoples  of  the 
Spanish  settlements  were  not  originators  of  the  spirit  of 
the  West. 

The  next  to  invade  the  West  were  the  miners,  who,  struck 
with  the  gold  fever,  began  in  numbers  to  make  migration 
to  CaUfornia  in  1849,  to  Colorado  in  1851,  to  Oregon  in 
1852,  to  Nevada  in  1859,  to  Idaho  in  1860,  to  Montana  in 
1862,  to  Wyoming  in  1867,  to  Dakota  in  1875.  But  these 
miners,  confining  themselves  to  the  circumscribed  tracts  of 
the  ore  beds,  produced  no  general  settling  of  the  country. 

Nor  did  they  create  a  public  consciousness.  Once  west- 
ward of  the  frontier,  these  miners,  like  the  hunters,  trappers, 
traders,  and  the  expatriates  mentioned  above,  considered 
themselves  to  be  in  a  foreign  land;  regarded  the  territory 
in  which  they  were  as  merely  space  from  which  wealth  might 
be  extracted;  and  restricted  their  ideas  either  to  the  labor 
in  hand  or  to  recollections  of  conditions  "back  home,"  in 
"  the  States." 

These  miners,  self-cloistered  in  the  areas  of  the  orelands, 
gathered  within  those  areas  and  about  ''rich  strikes,"  like 
bees  about  a  hive.  They  all  stayed  put  where  they  were, 
and  pecked  away  at  the  ground  until  the  announcement 
that  some  one  had  elsewhere  ''struck  it  rich."  Instantly 
some  bearded,  red-shirted,  enterprising  soul,  seizing  his 
shovel,  pick,  and  pan,  would  desert  his  companions,  and 


LATER  PHASES  OF  WESTERN  MIGRATION      343 

would  ''strike  out"  for  the  ''new  excitement,"  to  be  fol- 
lowed by  a  portion  of  the  members  of  the  "camp"  just  as 
a  part  of  the  inmates  of  a  hive  emigrate  with  a  queen-bee. 
But  this  transit  by  the  miners  would  mean  merely  a  shift- 
ing from  one  settlement  to  another,  the  two  identical  in 
thought  as  well  as  in  work. 

This  thought  was  limited  largely  to  the  contents  of  the 
ground  and  their  extraction;  and  the  miners'  relations  were 
with  the  earth  rather  than  with  people.  The  miners  not 
only  did  not  come  into  contact  with  persons  living  outside 
of  the  mineral  belts;  but  also,  as  among  themselves,  had 
scant  business  intercourse.  Their  vocation,  from  its  nature, 
required  individual  effort  or  at  most  that  of  small  squads; 
and,  from  its  severity,  reduced  Hfe  to  digging  in  daytime 
and  to  sleeping  at  night. 

Then  too,  natural  desire  to  monopoUze  the  results  of  eager, 
persistent,  and  successful  search  engendered  secretiveness  as 
to  one's  delving  operations.  Secretiveness,  pursued  on 
this  point,  tended  to  create  uncommunicativeness  in  all 
important  matters. 

The  miner  carried  with  him  to  the  West  all  the  customs 
that  he  later  followed  there;  and  he  changed  them  not  at 
aU  except  in  so  far  as  they  related  to  the  mechanical  proc- 
esses of  procuring  and  refining  ore,  and  save  that  he  rough- 
ened his  social  manners. 

He  did  found  various  towns,  and  he  was  the  principal 
factor  in  their  subsequent  development  into  cities  of  im- 
portance and  of  multiple  interests.    Thus  came  Denver. 

He  did  enter  sleepy  Httle  Yerba  Buena,  a  Mexican  ranch- 
ing hamlet  lying  upon  the  borders  of  a  bay  that  had  seen  no 
ships  except  naval  vessels,  occasional  Mexican  coasters  drop- 
ping in  for  trade,  more  occasional  Yankee  or  Kanaka  hide- 
droughers  calling  for  hides  or  drinking-water,  and  equally 
rare  Yankee  whalers  putting  into  port  for  either  a  refitting 
or  an  overhauling.    True,  he  entered  Yerba  Buena;   and, 


344  THE  COWBOY 

both  directly  by  his  local  business  and  indirectly  by  the 
commerce  which  he  induced,  he  converted  a  tiny,  drowsy 
cluster  of  adobe  huts  into  one  of  the  cities  of  the  world, 
San  Francisco. 

But  he  founded  places,  not  the  civiUzation  which  ulti- 
mately pervaded  them. 

He  produced  nothing  except  the  structures  in  these  cities 
and  except  extracted  mineral  wealth;  and,  as  a  class,  has 
left  no  imprint  beyond  that  of  the  recorded  fact  of  his  civic 
foundings,  and  that  of  a  few  phrases  and  of  a  picturesque 
memory.  He  for  himself  grew  rich,  and  for  us  made  Bret 
Harte  and  Mark  Twain  possible. 

The  miners  were  closely  followed  by  their  two  providers, 
the  merchant  who  sold  supplies,  and  the  transportation 
man,  the  latter  portaging  across  the  continent  at  first  by 
wagon  and  later  by  railway  train.  The  Western  merchants, 
through  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century,  took  on  the 
color  of  their  environments;  and,  until  the  comparatively 
recent  urban  development,  were  not  sufficiently  numerous 
to  be  a  material  factor  in  forming  a  public  opinion.  The 
transportation  man,  whether  of  the  wagon  or  of  the  later 
railway,  ever  completely  inamersed  himself  in  his  immediate 
job,  and  customarily  regarded  the  country  he  traversed 
not  as  the  home  of  a  populace  but  merely  as  a  gap  between 
terminal  stations.  These  transportation  men,  who,  with 
the  army's  aid,  enabled  the  peopled  West  to  be  born  and 
to  grow,  did  not  create  or  shape  its  spirit. 

The  superb  Old  Army  was  in  the  West,  but  officer  and 
men  dated  their  thoughts  so  generally  from  the  city  of 
Washington,  kept  their  minds  so  much  in  national  instead 
of  local  Hues,  tended  so  strictly  to  their  military  knitting, 
and  Uved  so  inside  their  own  traditions  that  they  left  no 
imprint,  although  they  primarily  had  made  the  West  gen- 
erally habitable. 

The  sheepmen,  by  the  unadventurous  nature  of  their 


LATER  PHASES  OF  WESTERN  MIGRATION      345 

animals,  were  withheld  from  the  Cattle  Comitry  until  it 
had  been  permeated  by  the  raisers  of  horses  and  cattle, 
and  its  spirit  had  been  crystallized.  Furthermore,  the 
sheepmen  were  too  few  in  relative  number,  and  were  too 
much  under  the  vituperative  domination  of  the  cattlemen 
to  have  been  at  any  time  a  considerable  factor.  Among 
these  sheepmen,  were  very  able  persons;  but  even  these 
the  Cattle  Country  said  ''smelt  of  wool,"  and  so  they  were 
denied  an  influence. 

Gamblers  too  were  in  the  West,  but  they  were  of  course 
merely  incidental. 

If  the  so-called  spirit  of  the  West  was  not  made  by  any 
of  the  classes  thus  recited,  who  did  make  it?  It  had  been 
formed  in  its  entirety  before  the  advent  of  the  manufacturer, 
the  professional  man,  and  the  farmer,  so  they  could  have 
played  no  part. 

/"^  There  is  but  one  class  left,  the  class  composed  of  the 
rancher,  the  cowboy,  and  their  fellow  ranchmen.  These 
men  rode  out  into  a  vacant  empire;  met  the  traditions  and 
the  customs  of  the  hunters,  trappers,  and  traders,  the  primal 
i  pioneers;  with  unanimity  adopted  all  of  the  traditions 
and  the  usable  part  of  the  customs;  added  to  them; 
crystalhzed  the  whole  into  a  code  of  compulsory  usage,  and 
actively  embarked  in  the  pursuit  of  a  vocation  by  which 
they  kept  themselves  in  touch  with  all  conditions  of  people 
and  all  four  corners  of  the  map.  These  men  thus  fulfilled 
the  historical  requirements  for  leave  to  create  a  public  con- 
sciousness, and  they  performed  the  task. 

"^-^  If  one  wishes  further  proof,  let  him  consider  the  present 
basic  principles  of  the  Far  West.  They  stand  forth  in  well 
advertised,  clear-cut  lore,  even  though  in  action  they  often 
be  disregarded.  They  are  the  traditions  of  the  open  Range; 
and,  when  now  transgressed,  are  so  transgressed  not  by  the 
ranchman,  or  by  his  children,  but  by  some  recent  settler 
who  knows  not  Israel,  who  has  mistaken  Elijah's  mantle 


346  THE  COWBOY 

for  a  rag  carpet.    Mere  living  west  of  the  Missouri  River 
does  not  make  one  a  Westerner. 

If  one  desires  still  more  evidence,  then  from  his  dictionary 
let  him  list  all  the  words  and  phrases  which  have  crept  into 
popular  use  from  any  of  the  callings  that  were  represented 
in  the  West  before  its  spirit  came.  Let  him  take  the  words 
and  phrases  that  were  either  invented  or  vitahzed  within 
each  such  calliug.  If  he  will  ignore  the  numerous  gambling 
terms  (and  logically  they  should  be  ignored),  he  will  find 
the  ranchmen  to  have  been  by  far  the  largest  contributors. 
But  a  few  moments'  search  will  give  numerous  expressions, 
like  stampeded,  bucked  at  it,  caught  in  the  noose,  roped 
in,  rounded  up,  rounded  in,  hobbled,  hog-tied,  corralled  it, 
cinched  it,  it  was  a  cinch,  a  lead-pipe  cinch,  ranch  (in  sense 
of  home),  cut  it  out,  milling  around,  locoed,  rattled,  buf- 
faloed, rustled,  threw  my  hooks  into  him,  throw  the  bull, 
horned  in,  butted  in,  bawled  him  out,  to  but  a  few  verbal 
gifts  from  the  miners  with  their  now  classic  phrases,  pros- 
pect around,  good  prospect,  panned  out,  lucky  strike,  pay 
dirt,  and  struck  it  rich.  Philologists  assert  that  the  best 
measure  of  the  influence  by  one  nation  upon  another  is  the 
extent  of  the  modifications  imposed  upon  the  second  na- 
tion's language. 

The  miner  and  the  ranchman,  though  each  living  in  the 
West,  and  thinking  of  the  entire  West  as  his  own,  did  not 
conflict;  for  each  dealt  physically  with  only  the  sections 
for  which  the  other  calling  could  find  no  use.  The  miner, 
while  beginning  his  West  at  the  Missouri  River,  ignored 
the  countless  miles  of  flat  lands,  and  pictured  the  country 
as,  in  part,  a  series  of  busy  towns  which,  blocking  the  en- 
trances to  sombre  gulches,  filled  the  air  with  acid  fumes, 
with  the  smoke  of  chimneys,  with  the  ceaseless  pounding 
of  the  stamps;  pictured  it  also  as  in  part  a  series  of  lonely 
canyons,  within  which  isolated  men  either  dug  aU  day  into 
rocky  walls  or  stood  all  day  upon  a  river  bar  and  shovelled 


LATER  PHASES  OF  WESTERN  MIGRATION      347 

gravel  into  an  ever  hungry  sluice-box;  pictured  it  also  as, 
in  part,  a  wide  surrounding  area  of  uninteresting,  oreless 
lands  not  worth  investigating,  of  no  advantage  to  himself, 
but  of  reputed  value  to  the  ranchman,  and  geographically 
a  part  of  the  West,  in  which  the  miner  took  such  pride. 

The  ranchman,  beginning  his  West  also  at  the  Missouri 
River,  knew  intimately  every  rise  and  swale  throughout 
all  the  grass  lands.  He  had  no  reason  for  entering  the 
gulches  and  the  canyons  save  to  gratify  curiosity  or  sec- 
tional pride.  He  thought  in  terms  of  sweeping  stretches  of 
open  country,  and  had  no  instinct  to  found  a  city.  How- 
ever, as  one  of  the  exceptions,  he  did  start  Cheyenne  upon 
its  way. 

Thus  there  were,  coincidently  within  the  geographical 
limits  of  the  West,  and  each  at  heart  claiming  all  of  its  terri- 
tory, two  Wests,  that  of  the  miner  and  that  of  the  ranch- 
man. 

Such  was  the  Old  West. 

What  was  the  spirit  of  the  West,  of  the  Old  West?  It 
was  a  spirit  that  begat  personal  service  and  extreme  self- 
reliance,  which,  in  their  exercise,  were  at  all  times,  upon 
the  instant,  for  however  long  duration,  and  without  expec- 
tation of  reward,  as  subject  to  the  call  of  others,  were  they 
friends  or  entire  strangers,  as  to  the  requisition  of  their 
owner.  It  was  a  spirit  that  offered  a  contempt  for  distance 
or  danger  as  an  impediment  to  duty  or  pleasure.  It  was 
a  spirit  that  gave  to  a  mau  an  intense  individualism,  and 
not  only  a  hatred  of  class  distinctions  save  such  as  the  West 
itself  created,  but  also  a  bitter  antipathy  to  all  social  usages 
in  limitation  of  personal  action  except  those  which  either 
were  prescribed  by  universal  fundamental  law  or  were  in 
the  Western  code.  It  was  a  spirit  that  nurtured  an  undying 
pride  in  the  country  of  the  West,  a  devoted  loyalty  to  its 
people  as  a  class,  a  fierce  partisanship  in  favor  of  that  coun- 
try and  its  people,  and  a  complete  silence  about  and  very 


348  THE  COWBOY 

generous  forgiving  of  whatever  wrongs  any  of  the  latter 
might  have  done. 

The  exhibition  of  these  quahties  was  governed  by  the 
closely  followed  conventions  which  earlier  pages  of  this 
book  have  attempted  to  portray. 

Out  of  this  spirit  of  the  West,  out  of  the  forces  which 
produced  it  or  from  the  men  who  made  it  came  three  af- 
firmative, continuing  results.  Of  these  three,  two  are  pat- 
ently of  national  importance  and  the  third  may  ultimately 
prove  itself  to  be  so. 

The  first  of  these  results  was  that  Mason  and  Dixon's 
Line  as  a  purveyor  of  sectional  prejudices  was  never  al- 
lowed to  extend  into  the  Cattle  Country.  It  never  yet 
has  invaded  where  once  the  Range  was  open,  and  the  lariat 
used  to  swing.  Although  Eastern  emigration,  obedient  to 
nature's  law,  moved  westward  on  parallels  of  latitude,  al- 
though Texas  had  seceded  and  been  in  the  Confederacy, 
although  New  Mexico  and  Arizona  later  were  enpeopled 
dominantly  by  Texans,  there  was  no  North  vs.  South  in  the 
Cattle  Country.  Montana,  Texas,  and  the  States  between 
met  amicably  over  the  cow's  back. 

The  Texas  Trail  brought  Southerner  and  Northerner  of 
the  Range  together  in  intimate  human  contact,  and  fused 
them  into  the  Westerner  except  in  so  far  as  the  Texan  re- 
served the  right  to  pay  obeisance  primarily  to  his  beloved 
Texas.  Thus  present-day  Americans  owe  to  the  bygone 
man,  atop  a  pitching  bronco,  thanks  that  the  United  States, 
for  purposes  of  sectional  prejudices,  has  but  three  divisions 
and  not  four. 

The  second  result  was  a  corollary  of  the  first.  It  was 
an  intense  solidarity  among  all  trans-Missouri  River  people; 
a  sohdarity  still  existent,  and  which,  when  the  geographical 
centre  of  national  population  goes  materially  further  west- 
ward than  it  now  is,  perhaps  may  speak  dominantly  at  the 
polls.    The  West  has  not  yet  outgrown,  gives  no  present 


LATER  PHASES  OF  WESTERN  MIGRATION      349 

evidence  of  ever  outgrowing  the  example  of  the  average 
cowboy.  He  had  for  his  particular  Western  State  and 
county  an  affection  which,  were  he  a  Texan,  was  so  strong 
as  to  make  him  call  himself  a  Texan  rather  than  a  Western- 
er, but  which,  were  he  not  a  Texan,  was  not  strong  enough 
to  prevent  his  termiug  himself  a  Westerner  instead  of  a 
Coloradan,  an  Oregonian,  or  whatever.  Nevertheless,  and 
in  any  event,  his  ultimate,  if  not  his  primary,  abject,  bUnd, 
devoted  allegiance  was  to  the  entire  West,  *' God's  Coun- 
try." And,  when  the  geographical  centre  of  national  popu- 
lation moves  far  westward,  it  will  be  poHtically  well  for 
the  East  if  the  then  people  of  the  one-time  Cattle  Country 
forgive  the  citizens  who  used  to  talk  of  the  Alps  instead  of 
the  Rockies. 

The  third  result  was  that  not  only  did  Western  democracy 
retain  its  vigor,  unabated  in  quantity  and  unaltered  in  na- 
ture, but  also  it  set  itself  affirmatively  at  work  for  the  pro- 
duction of  certain  tangible  results. 

Although  the  methods  of  production  and  the  tangible 
results  produced  were  such  as  had  been  advocated  by  poUt- 
ical  sociahsts,  the  Westerner  had  no  leaning  toward  social- 
ism when  he  thus  harnessed  his  democracy.  His  mind  still 
functioned  in  terms  of  the  neighborliness  and  of  the  willing- 
ness for  mutual  service  that,  in  the  early  days,  existed  of 
necessity,  and  as  a  logical  result,  from  both  the  scarcity  of 
population  and  also  the  paucity  of  equipment  for  meeting 
untoward  conditions.  In  this  he  was  not  inimical  to  the 
socialists. 

But  he  still  preserved  his  insistent  demand  for  individual- 
ism, and  bitterly  resented  any  factor  which  might  jeopardize 
its  continuance.  In  this  he  was  in  diametrical  opposition 
to  the  basic  theory  upon  which  pohtical  socialism  rested. 

Nor  was  any  part  of  the  Westerner's  actuating  motive 
a  desire  to  dispense  charity.    He  wished  to  benefit  not  the  - 
poor  alone  but  the  entire  public,  of  which  he  formed  a  part. 


350  THE  COWBOY 

With  this  attitude  of  mind,  he  was  disposed  to  require 
that  whatever  institutions  of  higher  learning,  whatever 
hospitals,  whatever  orphanages,  asylums,  and  other  elee- 
mosjoiary  institutions  might  be  locally  needed  be  not  left 
to  the  chance  of  private  foundation  or  to  support  from  pri- 
vate endowment.  He  took  it  for  granted  that  he  and  his 
neighbors  should  get  together  and  build  and  support  a  uni- 
versity, a  hospital,  or  whatever,  just  as  in  primitive  days 
he  and  his  neighbors  had  joined  forces  when  the  round-ups 
called  for  collective  efforts.  Thus,  save  for  the  Rice  In- 
stitute in  Texas,  and  for  various  railway  companies'  hospi- 
tals, there  are  as  yet,  within  the  former  Cattle  Country 
and  imder  private  management,  virtually  no  institutions 
organized  for  any  of  the  purposes  above  enumerated. 

The  Cattle  Country  did  not,  of  course,  invent  public 
foundation  and  pubhc  support,  for  the  Eastern  States  al- 
ready had  institutions  so  set  up.  But  these  Eastern  States 
were  accustomed  to  additional  institutions,  all  of  private 
creation  and,  for  their  income,  making  no  demand  upon 
the  taxpayer.  It,  however,  remained  for  the  Cattle  Coun- 
try wholly  to  omit  from  the  pubHc's  reckoning  all  thought 
of  private  institutions  in  connection  with  plans  for  local 
betterments. 

This  omission  did  not  come  from  any  resentment  against 
privately  owned  wealth.  It  did  not  signify  any  opposition 
to  private  endowment  and  management.  It  was  not  due 
even  to  scantiness  of  population.  It  was  a  direct  inheritance 
from  the  enforced  co-operation  of  the  pioneer  days. 

It  was  not  tinctured  by  any  thought  that  Washington 
might  provide  at  least  a  portion  of  the  necessary  moneys. 
True,  the  West  had  been  accustomed  not  to  pay  for  lands, 
grass,  water,  wood,  or  minerals,  but  rather  to  receive  them 
as  federal  gifts;  but  the  West  had  not  yet  awakened,  as 
had  some  portions  of  the  East,  to  the  pleasing  taste  of  fed- 
eral cash.  In  the  matter  of  its  local  institutions  the  West 
expected  to  foot  the  entire  bill. 


LATER  PHASES  OF  WESTERN  MIGRATION      351 

Perhaps  the  most  picturesque  task  at  which  harnessed 
democracy  was  set  was  that  of  installing  and  maintaining 
in  various  localities,  and  for  the  gratuitous  use  of  the  entire 
pubHc,  camping-places,  each  available  for  occupancy  by 
numerous  parties  at  a  single  time,  and  many  equipped  with 
permanent  cooking  grates  flanked  by  piles  of  free  wood. 
These  camping-places  were  for  the  use  of  the  entire  pubhc, 
local  or  foreign,  and  not  of  only  that  portion  of  the  entire 
public  which  represented  what  the  East  amid  its  own  popu- 
lation called  the  ^^ general  pubhc,"  which  is  to  say  the  poor 
and  also  such  of  the  financially  more  well-to-do  as  at  political 
meetings  were  given  mere  admission  tickets  and  not  re- 
served seats.  All  Westerners,  regardless  of  class  or  wealth 
distinctions,  used  and  still  use  these  camping-places  con- 
ducted under  the  democratic  doctrines  of  ^'for  everybody," 
and  '^ first  come  first  served,"  but  nevertheless  not  requir- 
ing any  more  social  intimacy  than  the  various  camping- 
parties  might  care  to  have  with  each  other. 

These  Western  recreative  spots  stand  out  in  contrast 
with  most  of  those  within  the  East,  a  contrast  which  re- 
flects adversely  upon  the  East  imless  its  cause  be  imder- 
stood.  Heretofore  such  public  playgroimds  in  the  East 
as  have  not  consisted  of  mere  roads  have  been  devoted 
largely  to  people  financially  unable  to  pm'chase  recreation 
elsewhere.  That  some  persons  have  studiously  avoided 
these  resorts  the  West  has  believed  to  have  been  due  wholly 
to  snobbishness,  a  word  and  a  quahty  detested  in  the  Cattle 
Country.  The  West  has  ignored  the  other  side  of  the  pic- 
ture, and  thus  has  overlooked  the  fact  that  the  habitual 
users  of  these  places  have  commonly  resented  the  attendance 
by  such  persons  as  supposedly  had  means  to  go  elsewhere 
and,  by  failing  to  do  so,  have  occupied  space  which  other- 
wise a  poorer  man  might  have  enjoyed. 

However,  whatever  the  causes,  the  East  has  not  what 
the  West  has,  pubhc  parks  filled  with  the  spirit  of  democ- 


352  THE  COWBOY 

racy.  That  spirit  in  those  Western  parks,  that  cooking 
grate  flanked  with  piles  of  wood  and  available  to  all  who 
come,  is  neither  more  nor  less  than  a  perpetuation  of  a  Uttle 
fire  of  sage-brush  twigs  which,  built  long  years  ago  far  out 
upon  the  Range,  heard  its  builder  say  "Light,  stranger, 
light." 

Not  only  was  Western  democracy  thoroughly  virile,  but 
also,  because  it  was  created  and  regulated  by  the  public 
itself,  it  was  thoroughly  practical  in  both  spirit  and  opera- 
tion. In  all  this  it  differed  much  from  the  laboratory  de- 
mocracy which  cloistered  political  theorists  have,  from 
time  to  time  since  America's  founding,  sought  academically 
to  purvey  to  what  they  termed  the  masses. 

The  West  but  little  welcomed  such  abstract  prescriptions 
for  social  betterment  as  on  occasion  detached  theorists, 
however  high-minded,  formulated  and  presented  at  long 
range  to  an  ungrateful  pubhc.  The  West  had  no  wish  to  be 
uplifted  from  afar,  no  wish  to  be  uplifted  by  any  one  claim- 
ing superiority  to  it,  no  wish  in  fact  to  be  uplifted  at  all. 
It  was  quite  content  with  its  own  system  of  democracy. 

This  system,  while  starting  with  the  American  axioms 
that  all  men  were  created  free  and  equal,  and  thus  that  a 
man  might  not  acquire  by  inheritance  an  assured  social 
position,  declined  nevertheless  to  admit  that  all  men  had 
to  remain  socially  equal,  but,  on  the  contrary,  ungrudgingly 
accorded  to  a  man  whatever  position  he  by  his  individual 
worth  had  achieved.  The  Cattle  Country  thus  recognized 
very  distinctly  defined  social  gradations.  Brains,  moral 
and  physical  courage,  strength  of  character,  native  gentle- 
manliness,  proficiency  in  riding  or  shooting — every  quahty 
of  leadership  tended  to  raise  its  owner  from  the  conunon 
level.  The  aristocracy  of  the  Cattle  Country  consisted  of 
the  likable  element  among  the  scouts,  the  ranch  foremen, 
the  "top''  riders,  the  "crack"  shots,  the  drivers  upon  prin- 
cipal stage  routes,  and  the  forceful  ranch  owners. 


LATER  PHASES  OF  WESTERN  MIGRATION      353 

The  West  had  such  keen  adrnkation  for  individual 
achievement  that  there  were  admitted  to  at  least  the  fringe 
of  this  aristocracy  such  of  the  train-robbers  as,  not  being 
^'bad  men/'  pHed  their  vocation  on  bold  lines,  with  con- 
spicuous success,  and  with  a  tincture  of  chivalry. 

The  truth  was  that  the  West  was  so  human  and  so  mascu- 
line that  it  was  somewhat  addicted  to  hero-worship. 

An  Englishman's  possessing  a  title  of  nobility  or  having 
close  relationship  with  it  did  not  in  itself  insure  admission 
to  the  Western  inner  circles,  though  it  universally  made 
the  man  an  object  of  curious  interest.  However,  most  of 
the  English  ranchmen  of  the  type  in  question  had  so  much 
innate  social  adaptability  as,  when  in  the  country,  to 
'Hravel  on  their  own  and  not  on  their  titles.*'  Many  of 
them  were  of  great  popularity,  but  they  all,  when  absent 
from  the  country,  were  subject  to  be  considered  as  imper- 
sonal absentees. 

Nevertheless,  all  this  is  beside  the  mark,  inasmuch  as 
the  West  was  made  by  its  citizens  and  not  by  its  guests. 

The  men  who  made  the  spirit  of  the  West,  who  forbade 
Mason  and  Dixon's  Line  to  extend,  who  harnessed  democ- 
racy, wore  '^ chaps." 

Wherefore  this  book  closes  with  the  appeal  that  these  by- 
gone, virile,  warm-hearted  men  of  real  idealism,  of  high 
courage  and  brave  achievement,  of  maturest  force  and  child- 
Hke  simplicity,  of  broad  tolerance  if  often  of  violent  prej- 
udices, these  builders  of  an  empire,  may  not,  through  the 
drama's  stressing  of  their  picturesqueness,  be  forgotten  as 
to  their  bigness  and  be  recorded  by  some  definitive,  his- 
torical treatise  in  the  future  as  having  been  mere  theatric 
characters. 


t 


^^i 


'J? 


-f 


CEN^WA^L  LIBRARY 

VJt  Sf  I^^  tio/       vju  ->Oi/^ 


14  DAY  USE 

RETURN  TO  DESK  FROM  WHICH  BORROWED 

LOAN  DEPT. 

This  book  is  due  on  the  last  date  stamped  below,  or 

on  the  date  to  which  renewed. 

Renewed  books  are  subject  to  immediate  recall. 


mi^ts^^ 


5lDt-^>$8A 


RECEIVED 


^JN    51965 


ReCEIVED  Uf 


FEB  26 'B^ -3  PM 


LOAN  DEPT 


I'S-'v  i  i  lyB'^i 


MAR  2  2  1967  »^ 


CIRCULATION  DEPT. 


^f?it67-^PM 


m^ 


^5T 


^4r 


PP/-»«»^ 


M2   -67-1  p 


^OAN  DEPT 


LD  21A-60m-7,'66 
(G4427sl0)476B 


General  Library 

University  of  California 

Berkeley 


iv^  oo^y^ 


r* 


i^% 


n\ 


^  /7  >o  es 


THE  UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  LIBRARY 


